We look at how one global company has successfully designed its mobility programme to fit in with the organisation's strategic objectives.

International experience contributes to personal development

One sign that an organisation is truly global is that it builds global mobility into its career-path planning. Another sign is that a high percentage of the associates in the company have global assignments. Still another is that the company has a high percentage of its business outside of its headquarters location.

All of the above are true for Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS), Bangalore, India. At the Global Workforce Summit convened by Worldwide ERC® and the International Herald Tribune in June 2005, in Warsaw, Poland, S Padmanabahn, executive vice president and global head of HR for TCS, noted that he had lived in 15 countries in 23 years and described how his organisation builds a global workforce with a high retention rate (the highest in that industry) in support of the company’s strategic objectives.

Background: global mobility is a key part of career-path planning for TCS executives

To establish a background for his discussion, Padmanabahn outlined some statistics and demographics. TCS has experienced phenomenal growth in the amount of people it employs. In one year, TCS grew from 30,000 to 45,000 employees, and the company anticipates adding another 1,000 this year. Ninety-five percent of TCS’s business comes from outside India. Because TCS’s primary service is providing expertise and knowledge to customers, the growth and development of its human resources, along with retention of employees in the highly competitive information technology skills market, are strategic imperatives. Hence, global mobility is a key part of career-path planning for executives working for the organisation.

Fifty-seven percent of TCS associates have more than three years of experience with the company. After three years, TCS can assume that the associate has a good understanding of the business and the company, and is ready for deployment. This means that, at any given time, approximately 22,000 people are either ready for mobility, in the process of moving, or on assignment.

About 1,500 associates are non-Indian nationals operating in China, Hungary, Ireland, Uruguay, Brazil, Canada, and Australia—locations where technological skills are high, university systems are very good, the telecommunication infrastructure is well-developed, and governments are friendly toward human and currency mobility. Based on these criteria, TCS has identified Poland, the Czech Republic, and Russia as emerging locations.

Padmanabahn noted that mobility of non-Indians presents a greater challenge for the company than Asians, who he describes as "very mobile". Americans move a lot, but predominantly within the United States. Mobility among Western Europeans is very low for reasons related to pensions and culture issues. He also said Western European management schools are recruiting Asian students, which creates an excellent talent pool for organisations seeking to recruit leaders for their operations in the Asia-Pacific region.

Padmanabahn also said that nearly 22 percent of TCS associates are women. Mobility of women is very different from that of men, he observed, noting that women are not quite as mobile as men are (although this is changing). Cultural attitudes toward the role of women in child-rearing and family life play a role as women move through different life stages. TCS is finding that more and more women are being sent on short-term assignments to balance career and family needs.

Historically, companies produced their goods and services locally and sold them globally. Truly global companies now produce, buy, and sell globally, said Padmanabahn. This results in more local hires and growth of local management talent. To increase local talent, TCS works to make sure that local hires become globally mobile, as well.

Career progression planning

TCS’s human resource philosophy is that development of the employees will result in the development and success of the organisation. Therefore, career progression planning begins with goals that are important to the organisation’s associates: experience with emerging technology; continual opportunity for upward mobility; and a multi-geographic experience. Therefore, TCS creates career plans for each individual that consider all three factors in the space of 15 years.

Growing local talent: TCS gives local hires international experience

“The person’s personal development is driven through experience in different geographies, experience working with different customers, and experience working with different technologies,” said Padmanabahn.

“Individual development of knowledge and capability translates into their own professional development, because as capability builds, people are ready for the next higher role. And as we are expanding geographically, we need more and more leaders who can manage the next higher role….We have a system today where we allow people to apply and self-select themselves as candidates for the vacancy. The sum of the development of all the individuals equals the growth of the company, which depends on the cumulative knowledge of our people,” he said.

The process of matching the person to the vacancy begins with the human resource and manpower allocation task committee. The primary job of this group is to maintain an inventory of competencies that exist within the organisation and those that are being developed. There is also a demand matrix, which identifies the competencies that are needed. Drawing on the pool of self-selected candidates, TCS evaluates candidates based on their competencies, availability, and cultural orientation.

TCS sends the executives chosen for assignment through a preparation process that offers cultural and language preparation, orientation to the job, and skills that will be needed for success in the role. TCS also supports a spouse association for the spouses of assignees. This association has a website about the company and offers resources specific to the different locations to which TCS deploys people. It also makes available job opportunities for the spouses, such as teaching languages to TCS associates.

Once on assignment, TCS ensures that the associate maintains close ties with the headquarters organisation and with the home location. This is accomplished by hosting cultural events, annual home leave trips, and through the existence of a global HR organisation that is closely aligned with the business in each location. These HR officers are charged with creating the same experience of the company abroad as that which the employee would have experienced in India.

TCS also has a formalised performance management system that ensures that the employee is not forgotten by those in the position to offer the employee the next role in their career-path process. Padmanabahn credits this formal system of performance management and clear career-path opportunities with the high retention rate the consultancy has achieved.

Repatriation

Exploration phase

TCS’s repatriation process begins with a foundation laid prior to the assignment through its investment in the process of experience that the associate gains prior to international deployment. Padmanabahn described the period during which the employee is being trained and developed in the home location as the '"exploration phase".

During this time, the employee acquires skills and experience working for TCS, and by the time he or she is deployed internationally, he or she has gained a clear understanding of the company, the opportunities for growth within the company, its different product lines, and the process by which he or she will be reassigned when the time comes.

Specialisation phase

The next phase is the “specialisation” phase. The employee finds his or her niche in the company and builds skills and experience.

Final phase

In the final phase, the employee is completely aligned with the goals of the company in terms of his or her skills and experience and understanding of the chosen career path.

In looking at repatriation, said Padmanabahn, TCS takes into account the phases the associate is in to help determine the best next assignment both from the perspective of the employee and the company.

Additionally, TCS looks at the employee’s family circumstances and his or her geographical experience and technical skill sets. The ultimate goal for both TCS and the employee is continual career growth through each assignment.

Multiple organisational lines are paramount to success

Padmanabahn noted that the rapid growth of the company has made this a challenging process to design and implement. He attributes part of TCS’s success to the fact that there are multiple organisational lines within the company, so that not only can individuals look upward within their own group for the next career move, but across the company, as well.

Padmanabahn believes there is no ' formula' for repatriation, but that the following steps are universal:

• reintegration facilitation involving HR and line management;
• relocation and cultural assistance;
• collection of expatriate feedback;
• maintenance of skills;
• mentoring; and
• review meeting(s).

Padmanabahn then presented two case studies that illustrated that no two repatriation scenarios are exactly alike, even with a formal repatriation programme in place. In one example, there was a change in the returning executive’s compensation and pension programme, and he had the perception that the position to which he was returning was a demotion. Minor logistical issues exacerbated the employee’s sense of discontent. In another example, the executive had been highly successful while on assignment and the position to which he was being posted presented a challenge worthy of his previous success, but personal issues with the return to India created complications for his family.

Even for a company whose globalisation process is as sophisticated as that of TCS, the issue of workforce mobility continues to be complicated by the 'soft' issues—family needs, individuals’ needs for career advancement, cultural issues, and the very process of change that is required when and individual and family are globally mobile.

TCS’s achievement of high retention, however, shows that many of these challenges can be mitigated through the careful planning of a process that ensures that critical elements are not overlooked, and a well-constructed programme that offers adequate flexibility to meet individual needs.

Christine M Wilson is Worldwide ERC® director, web strategy and services. She can be reached at +1 202 862 4233 or e-mail cwilson@erc.org.

Reprinted with permission of Worldwide ERC®, from the October 2005 issue of MOBILITY.

Subject: International career paths, repatriation, HR and expatriate management