THE ECONOMIC TIMES BANGALORE MONDAY 28 JUNE 2010 CAREER & BUSINESS LIFE

Kala Vijayraghavan & Labonita Ghosh

MUMBAI

MAYUR Singh doesn’t think of him-self as a poster boy for anything. Butthe 45-year-old, senior vice-presi-

dent at HSBC Bank is certainly one within hisorganisation. Mr Singh, who spends sixmonths of the year working at an eco-conser-vation project in Kemri, near Udaipur in Ra-jasthan, and six months in the HSBC office inMumbai, has become the organisation’s best-known face for a recently-started HR initia-tive: the Flexible Work Arrangement (FWA).According to this, Singh and another 600-oddemployees across the country can now decidehow and when to pace themselves at work.They can decide when to come in, when toleave and when to take off and do some otherthings with their time. As long as work andproductivity don’t suffer, of course.

It’s a revolutionary idea that HSBC is spear-heading. And one that — all other things re-maining the same — will make for a happieremployee, a happier workplace and also possi-bly turn HSBC into a much-sought-after em-ployer. “It is simply part of our goal to be thebest place to work and be an employer ofchoice,” says Tanuj Kapilashrami, head, hu-man resource, HSBC Bank. “It is more of ‘needto do’ than ‘good to do’ initiative. The flexi-time plan works fine for us as a business casetoo, considering a good number of our cus-tomers are women. We also have the lowestattrition record in the industry.”

An increasing number of employees in a bur-geoning workforce now want to bring some bal-ance in their work-life situation, take control oftheir working style and even opt out of a stereo-typed work culture-and-pay rise cycle.

Realising this, HSBC first segmented its em-ployees into predominant, representativegroups — working couples, singles, matureemployees — and kept motivators and chal-lenges on stand-by to ease their transition intoflexi-time. “We ensuredthat there is an organisa-tional readiness to under-stand employee needsand work around them,”says Kapilashrami. “For in-stance, among other things,there are more women comingout from business schools and wehave to change work pat-terns to accommodate that.”

When HSBC offered FWA toemployees two years ago, anoverwhelming number signedup for it. Today, around 10% ofits 6,500 workforce is in some flexiarrangement or the other. Clearly,changing demographics, more andyounger members in the workforce,more women and socioeconomicchanges are leading mature organisa-tions like HSBC to amend rules and of-

fer higher flexibility to care for elderly relativesor children.

In 2009, Sudha Raviprakash, vice-president,sales (SME), currently based in Bangalore, de-cide to go on the FWA to help her son study forhis board exams. For about three months, shewould come in to work early, by 8 am, and onlystay on till lunch time. After lunch, she wouldmostly work out of home — which was a hopaway and meant that sometimes, if needed,Raviprakash could quickly hop back into the of-fice. “Since I’m in sales, I would make sure allmy client meetings and team meetings wereheld in the morning,” says Raviprakash. “I keptall my other work, like replying to mails andsuch, to do from home,” she says.

Similarly, HSBC’s team in the south, headedby Renny J Mampilly, vice-president, regionaldebt management, has taken the lead in optingfor staggered work hours. Mampilly and his en-tire team — six members in Chennai and Hy-

derabad and seven in Bangalore — either startwork at 9.30 am rather than an hour earlier, orleave early in the evening. (This arrangementincludes team leaders as well). “We found thatmost of the team either needed that extra hourin the morning, to drop kids to school or simplysleep in for a bit, or required some time in theevening to spend with their families,” saysMampilly. He himself leaves office by 5.30 or 6pm, and “since I don’t hit traffic, I’m home in10 minutes, and get to spend about two orthree hours with my kids every day,” he adds.“Of course, we have to make sure there are nostaggered hours or absenteeism during thepeak of work, between 10 am and 4 pm.”

Quite apart from satisfiedworkers, HSBC has astrong business case forflexi hours. Talent at-trition is apparently

under control, and the FWA reveals that pro-ductivity has gone up in about 88% of employ-ees, while it has remained the same (but notgone down) with the rest of the workers. Use ofthe Flexible Work Arrangement has been wellsupported and encouraged by the corporatecredit risk (CCR) leadership team across India.The arrangement has proved to be an innova-tive platform to help the bank retain top talent.

Says Radhakrishnan B Menon, founderand MD of LBW Consulting, a leadership de-velopment consulting firm, and former HRhead at Cadbury India: “Employees are ques-tioning regimentation at the work-place. So,employers are sitting up and taking notice ofthose who are confident of working at theirconvenience and meeting the organisation’sgoals. The issues of urban lifestyles includingtravel, traffic jams and personal responsibilitieshas necessitated flexi-time work cultures. Sev-eral employees are meeting targets and seek-ing options that ensure more meaning in life.Work and fun can co-exist beautifully.”

A significant driver of this change have beenconsumers demanding services they want attimes that suit them best. And sectors such as fi-nance, retail, leisure and services are adoptingnon-traditional working hours to meet thisconsumer demand, Menon adds. Also, by mak-ing working hours less rigid, companies can bemore flexible in terms of the service they offer tocustomers. “Flexi-time can mean that if, for ex-ample, a customer calls at 8 am or 7 pm, there’sa better chance of being able to speak to a man-ager. That translates into increased brand loyal-ty, and is the kind of differentiated service thatpulls in the customers,” says Kapilashrami.

There are challenges, though. Industrywatchers say while virtual work often provesto be productive, it could hamper employeebonding. “Flexi-time also leads to issues such asalienation and isolation in the workplace sincesuch employees do not fit into the regular em-ployee slot,” said the HR head of a consumergoods firm on condition of anonymity. “It isnot always a smooth transition,” admits Kapi-lashrami. “We have had to pull up employeesfor indifferent productivity. But that is expect-

ed in any change strategy. The upsides faroutweigh the risks.”

Adds Mayur Singh: “For me, thechange has not been difficult to

handle. I am copied on all mes-sages and constantly stay intouch. I can start back at the of-

fice with just two days notice ifnecessary, and am never out ofthe loop. But more importantly,it’s refreshing to go away andthen come back. I feel rechargedevery time I return.” Indeed, ma-

ture organisations know this,which is why they are bending

traditional rules to offer amore judicious work-lifebalance, says Kapilashrami.At HSBC they found it’s theonly way to go.

“A cigarette in my hand, I feel like adead man”.

Something that happened to afriend a few days ago reminded meof this old television commercial.He collapsed in office and had to berushed to hospital, where he wasdiagnosed with lung cancer, a directfallout of his smoking habit. On thesame day, as I rushed in and out ofhospital, a strange sight greeted meeach of the three times I drove backinto my office. Every single time Ifound a bunch of colleagues stand-ing at the gate, smoking. While theywere different sets of people eachtime, there was one guy, who wasthere all the three times.

That day, it struck me. If in amatter of four hours, I saw thatindividual out there smoking,

three times, how much time in aday would he be spending, outthere on the road, smoking. I de-cided to spend some time doingresearch. The next day, hiddenfrom public view, I stood outsidemy office, timing the smokingbreaks people take.

In a matter of 45 minutes, Itimed about 62 employees goingout to smoke. On an average eachsmoking break lasted about 670seconds (approx 11 minutes). This670 seconds was only the time tak-en while smoking, and did not takeinto account the time taken to walkfrom their respective workstations,looking for someone to accompa-ny them, taking the lift down andtrekking out of the office com-pound to the roadside, to smoke.

Imagine an organisation with1,000 employees, where 10% ofthe employees smoke an averageof five cigarettes a day (for an av-erage smoker, this is a conserva-tive assumption). This translates

into smoking employees wasting10% of their daily working hours,taking smoking breaks and whenyou spread the time lost in smok-ing, over the entire workforce, ittranslates to over 2% of the totalproductive time of any organisa-tion lost in smoking.

Krishna Rao, a non-smoker, isvery critical, “Smokers tend tohold up meetings when they areout for smoking breaks. Responsesto critical mails get held up, discus-sions get postponed. And what ismost frustrating about smokers,particularly smoking bosses, is thefact that they drag along non-smokers with them, wasting theirtime, and probably risking theirhealth too.” If you factor in Krish-na’s comments, the time lost be-cause of smoking during officehours can end up being a lot morethan the 2% estimated above.

Two percent of productive timelost every month is reason enoughfor HR to stand up and take notice.“I am aware”, says Rahul Bhat-tacharya, HR manager in a privatebank. “But there is little I can do tocontrol this menace. It’s viewed asa fundamental right of employees.And banning smoking may be abig demotivator.” While Rahulmay be partly right I would like topoint out that in these days wherecost control and retrenchment arethe order of the day, a smokingbreak, costs the organisation a lotmore than just the time it takes tosmoke. Organisations should seri-ously consider ways and means ofcontrolling this menace.

Anti-smoking campaigns, in-centivising people who stop smok-ing, smoke-free days and cappingsmoking breaks are initiativeswhich organisations can imple-ment, says Krishna, and I can’tagree more. While organisationscan do a lot to curb this menace,nothing can be achieved withoutself realisation. And, to all the em-ployees who spend hours on theroad smoking, my only message tothem is to pause for a moment andthink. You are in fact stealing com-pany time for your smoking breaksand in the process impacting yourown productivity, and more im-portantly, your and your co-work-ers’ health. Is it worth it?

Ravi Subramanian

Banker and author of‘Devil in Pinstripes’

NEW REGIME: GOODBYE TO REGIMENTATION

For me, the change has notbeen difficult to handle. Iconstantly stay intouch. I can startback at the officewith just two daysnotice ifnecessary, andam never out ofthe loop. Moreimportantly, it’srefreshing to goaway and thencome back. Ifeel rechargedevery time Ireturn

MAYUR

SINGH SENIOR VP

HSBC BANK

Productivityup in smoke

Over 2% of total productive time of anyorganisation may be lost in smoking

THE FLEXI-TIME PLANWORKS FINE FOR US AS A BUSINESS CASETOO, CONSIDERING AGOOD NUMBER OF OUR CUSTOMERS AREWOMEN

TANUJ KAPILASHRAMIHEAD, HR, HSBC BANK

HSBC is spearheading arevolutionary idea whereemployees get to choose

the hours they work

Fleximode to happiness

In 2009, Sudha Raviprakash, vice-president, sales (SME), currentlybased in Bangalore, decided to go on the FWA to help her son

study for his board exams.

INSIDE OUTSIDE

We'd love to hear from you. Reach us at cbl@timesgroup.com

CORPORATE

Subhash NarayanMEXICO CITY

STATE-owned Mexican oil compa-ny Pemex and India’s Reliance In-dustries may soon forge a partner-ship to develop a large capacitygreenfield refinery in Mexico. The3,00,000 barrels-a-day refinery willlargely meet the domestic energy re-quirements of Mexico. “We are im-pressed with the refinery operationsof Reliance. A team of senior gov-ernment officials will visit RIL’s site

at Jamnagar to explore the possibili-ty of partnerships,” Mexican Energysecretary Georgina Kessel said whiletalking about country’s potential inthe energy sector.

It is expected that Reliance will beroped in as a service provider in thenew refinery project to be developedby Pemex. “There would be no jointventure with RIL as the law does notpermit that,” the minister said.

Without specifying the date, MsKessel said she would be visiting In-dia and meet with energy ministersbesides visiting the facilities of RIL.She also did not give details of thescale of investment needed in the re-finery but said that it would be usedto meet needs of products for do-mestic market. She said Indian com-panies could also forge alliances forsetting up refinery operations for ex-ports of products from Mexico.

On the possibility of Indian com-panies exploring oil and gas reservesin Mexico, she said, it is not possible.However, the possibility of exploringoil and gas in third countries can beexplored by Pemex and ONGCVidesh and other companies.

While Reliance is operating one ofthe largest refineries in the world,ONGC’s foreign arm ONGC Videshexplores oil and gas in foreign coun-tries. Mexico has huge reserves of oiland gas and Indian companies arelooking for partnerships that can al-low them to bring some productsback to the country.

Besides Reliance, Tata Motors isalso exploring partnership with localauto company to meet the domesticneeds of Mexico, said economy min-ister of Mexico without giving anyfurther details.

Sarah JacobBANGALORE

DELHI-based marketing solutions companyJasper Infotech has acquired a Bangalore-based group buying firm, Grabbon, signalling

growing M&A interest in the business of providing on-line discounted deals to consumers.

Senior Jasper executives told ET that the companypurchased Grabbon last week in a cash-cum-equitytransaction. Financial terms were not disclosed. Groupbuying is an online retail service that aggregates de-mand from consumers to negotiate unbeatable dis-counts from merchants across restaurants, spas andother entertainment avenues. Last month, GroupBuying Global, and Harish Bahl, the founder of inter-net solutions company Smile Group, acquired Mum-bai-based WanaMo.com. The daily deal site was re-branded as Deals and You in order to integrate it withthe German firm’s lifestyle product portal Fashion andYou, which targets the same consumer.

“There are around 10 group buying firms in Indiaand the segment is gaining momentum because it canbe easily monetised by the power of social media.Group SMS service providers may also enter this seg-ment by linking together advertising with deals frommerchants,” said Arvin Babu, partner with GreylockPartners. Unlike pure play e-retail which has failed todeliver across the 50-million internet user base in Indiayet, group buying is a low capital expenditure busi-ness. Its resultant high margins coupled with the con-sumer draw created by substantial value offering hasled to a mushrooming of firms in the past nine

months. Venture capital’s interest in the sector is alsoaiding growth. Greylock and Battery Ventures havecommitted $8.75 million to another Bangalore-basedsite Taggle.com, in tranches. The founders of privateequity firm CX partners have also angel funded Delhi-based Mydala.com.

While merchants gain by optimising capacity at hisoutlet and leveraging the branding on social media,the group buying firm picks up a marketing fee ofaround 20%-25% on each transaction. Many playersnow intend to extend this model into mobile phonesto tap into a bigger base of impulse purchases. Part ofthe sector’s attraction lies in the nature of the business.“There are very few transaction-based businesses on-line where monetisation is directly through revenueand not just advertising,” Mr Babu added. Jasper,which uses its relationships with 15,000 merchantsthrough its other businesses to offer discounts throughSnapdeal, sees potential in developing a network ofgroup buying firms. Founded by Kunal Bahl andRahul Bansal, Jasper is the holding company of groupbuying arm Snap Deal and Moneysaver which offersco-branded discount cards and coupons on mobile.

In Grabbon, Bahl said he saw a brand that had geo-graphical strength in Bangalore and was built by ateam founded by XLRI graduates Tony Navin, JacksonFernandes and Balamurgan Balasubramanian. Thefounders will continue to manage the company.Jasper intends to expand to Singapore by August andis exploring inorganic options across markets such asThailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines. “It’s abuyers market internationally as most players are atthe same stage of growth. The team becomes theclincher,” said Kunal Bahl. Group buying is also seeingsome M&A activity in western markets where it is verywell developed. Pioneer and the world’s largest groupbuying site Groupon, reportedly valued at $1.35 bil-lion, entered the European market by snapping upGerman competitor Citydeal in May.

Pramugdha MamgainNEW DELHI

BUYOUT firm Blackstone may an-nounce the purchase of 12% ofMonnet Power for Rs 300 crore

as early as this week, said two peoplewith direct knowledge of the plans. “Thetalks between the two companies are atan advanced stage,” the first person said.

Another person who is aware of thedevelopments said the deal may besigned this week. “We do not commenton industry rumours,” a Blackstonespokeswoman said in an e-mail. MonnetIspat spokesman declined comment.Blackstone India run by Akhil Gupta willjoin private funds such as MorganStanley Infrastructure Partners which bought 44%in Asian Genco for $425 million and 3I Power inAdani, to benefit from the perennially deficient pow-er production in the country. With the economypoised to expand more than 8% annually, the short-

age may worsen with most utilities unable to meetthe generation target. Monnet Power, a subsidiary ofsteel maker Monnet Ispat, plans to build a power

plant in Angul, Orissa, to generate 1,050megawatts of power. That may require Rs5,000 crore, which partly will be met fromthe stake sale to Blackstone.

The first phase of 525 megawatt isexpected to be commissioned by June2012 and next by September the sameyear. The latest fund raising would help itattain financial closure, vital tocommence construction.

It also plans to build two thermal pow-er projects in Gujarat and two solarpower projects, one each in Rajasthanand Karnataka, the size of which are notknown. It may sell shares in an initial

public offering to fund these projects, one of the per-sons said.

Blackstone has said it plans to invest about $3 bil-lion in India in five years with a portfolio consistingof power, media and IT services companies.

S Sujatha & Sangeetha KandavelCOIMBATORE | CHENNAI

AFTER playing hide and seek for avery long time, Bermuda-headquar-tered Bacardi is finally entering theTamil Nadu market. The world’slargest family run spirits companyhas tied up with Chennai-based SNJDistilleries for a bottling plant in TamilNadu. To start with, the company isplanning to manufacture around20,000 cases per month and thenramp up production as and when theneed arises. Sources close to the de-velopment told ET that if all the ap-provals are cleared by July, the firstbrand of Barcadi White Rum wouldhit the market by the first week ofAugust. “Bacardi has got a green sig-nal to make three brands here, ofwhich two are White Rum and Vod-ka,” the source said and remainedtight lipped about the third item.

“Everything is on track and thecompany is waiting for price fixation.Once the price is fixed Barcadi wouldbe the first multinational brand thatwould be bottled in the state,” an offi-cial from Tamil Nadu State MarketingCorporation (Tasmac), which con-trols wholesale and retail liquor tradein the state, said on condition ofanonymity. “Tasmachad a boardmeeting onJune 18 to dis-cuss this issue,but the outcomehas not been dis-closed to anyone.Once its out, thegovernment willissue a go and then the brand wouldget registered here,” another personconnected to the project said.

Bacardi now imports 20 cases ofBlack Rum and Carta Blanca Rumevery month from Delhi and thesetwo brands are available at all the Tas-mac stores in Tamil Nadu. The capacityof each case is around 9 to 12 litres ap-proximately. The company also has itsown plant in Karnataka.

Bacardi Martini India president andCEO Mahesh Madhavan confirmed toET that the company has tied-up withSNJ Distilleries for a bottling pact and iswaiting for government approvals tostart manufacturing its brands in TamilNadu. “We are not spending money tobuild any plant so it is difficult to giveout any statistics,” he added. Industryand market sources hinted that Barca-di would be paying SNJ a fee for everybottle made in the plant.

Bahwan Cybertex plans to enterIndia’s energy sector CHENNAI: Bahwan Cybertek, a part of the Oman-based Bahwan Group, isplanning to foray into India’s energy sector, a top company official said. “Thepower sector has the most potential in India and we are sure to make ourmark in this segment,” Bahwan Cybertek CEO Durga Prasad said in astatement. He said that the company, which reported a revenue of Rs 475crore in financial year 2009-10, aimed to grow at 20% this financial year. The company has inducted Mohanbir Sawhney in the board of directorswith immediate effect. Prior to his new post, Sawhney was a consultant toBahwan Cybertek. In his new post, he would handle strategy, marketing andinnovation, it said. The company would recruit about 200 employees thisyear, it added.

Pemex, RIL maysign pact to developrefinery in Mexico

Jasper Infotech buys GrabbonMove Signals Growing M&A Interest In Business Of Providing Online Discounted Deals To Consumers

Cheers! Bacardito enter TN

market, finally

Blackstone likely to pick up 12% stake inMonnet Power for Rs 300 crore this week

GIVE &

TAKEMonnet Powerplans to build apower plant togenerate 1,050 mwof power. That mayrequire Rs 5k cr,which partly will bemet from the stakesale to Blackstone

We are impressed with the

refinery operations of

Reliance. A team of senior

government officials will visit

RIL’s site at Jamnagar to

explore the possibility of

partnerships

GEORGINA KESSELM E X I C A N E N E R G Y S E C R E TA R Y

GROUP BUY

� Group buying is an onlineretail service thataggregates demand fromconsumers to negotiateunbeatable discounts frommerchants acrossrestaurants, spas and otherentertainment avenues

� Group Buying Global, andHarish Bahl, the founder ofinternet solutions companySmile Group, acquiredMumbai-basedWanaMo.com

� Unlike pure play e-retailwhich has failed to deliveracross the 50-millioninternet user base in Indiayet, group buying is a lowcapital expenditure business

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