Pushkar Misra is the President & CEO of HGS-Philippines. He has been with the Hinduja Group since 2000, serving in various capacities across investment banking, project management, business planning and development, and corporate finance.
Since HGS’ acquisition of a call center company in the Philippines in 2004, he has seen the business grow into its own. Today, HGS-Philippines has nine sites with over 9000 employees. Pushkar reflects on his own HGS journey and elaborates on the value offerings of HGS Philippines for prospective employees, who are either starting out in their careers or looking for a change.
You have seen many things at HGS evolve over the years. In the Philippines, how has the company grown as an employer?
HGS is the first Indian company to establish in the BPO sector in the Philippines. We needed to educate people about us, both as an organization as well as a country.
In the beginning, we were conscious about not disrupting the existing culture of the organization we acquired but also ensure we preserve the HGS values. Fortunately, the acquired organization had deeply rooted values similar to our own, the result was a seamless marriage of the two work cultures.
We had to inspire faith that we intended to promote business and to collaborate as one team. Within the organization too, there had been several corporate structures in play. Before the acquisition, the Filipino company was working closely with an American company. Consolidating all these structures into one HGS helped us define the corporate ethos. This, in turn, helped employees establish their corporate identity, which is after all the foundation for building loyalty towards the employer.
Setting ground rules about methods, functions, and other organizational workings have also helped inspire teamwork and bonding among all employees. There is a lot maturity within, regarding tenure. Several of our employees here have been with HGS for 21+ years. Since many of us have begun our journeys right from the phones, the culture of stability has been an inherent part of HGS.
One of its results is that the management is extremely stable.
What are the value offerings for current and potential employees in the Philippines?
New employees have excellent examples of different career trajectories within our organization.
HGS is viewed as a very employee-friendly organization. We believe in taking care of our employees from day 1.
Since there is hardly any management attrition, new employees have excellent examples of different career trajectories. These examples also support the positive message, “when you are a performer, there is ample scope for growth and recognition.”
We are highly invested in employee wellness and healthcare, and their education. The Philippines has a very family-centric culture; we organize many events involving families. We also conduct activities for team-building and bonding. Everyone participates in all corporate occasions; the turnout from employees is always high. All the production happens in-house since almost everyone is highly talented.
A lot is happening in the Philippines on the CSR front, which also has high participation from employees. We are very proud of this.
We help our employees in all the ways we can.
Even during times of distress, we help our employees in all the ways we can. The Philippines faces natural disruptions often—we help employees with food, medicines, and sometimes, even provide shelter in our offices. When there was a flood recently, we had carpenters and plumbers visit the houses of all affected employees for repairs.
Our happy employees create happy customers.
All of these aspects of employee welfare come out in focus-group discussions that our clients conduct. The feedback from clients about our approach is that we carry out transactions with much more care than other service providers. There is much more empathy towards customers, right from our agents, and this reaffirms the fact that happy employees create happy customers. Our employee satisfaction levels are one of the highest, and the attrition rate is one of the lowest. Of course, employees receive monetary compensation for their hard work. But more than that, it is these intangible elements that help build their morale.
What is your message for prospective candidates in the Philippines?
Come and join a workplace where you will be recognized, empowered, appreciated and rewarded, and where you can look for stability and long-term career options. Grow with us!