Great work content and a groovy work environment have made ICICI a cool place for Gen-X go-getters to be in.

By Roshni Jayakar & Sunit Arora

As I wind my way through a city being dug up (gas, you know), Mumbai swelters. It's been an exceptionally warm December, and the cloud of dust is not helping matters. But I can spy the Bandra-Kurla complex. And, standing out between IL&FS and Citibank is this blue-glass building with the ICICI logo on top. If former CEO Narayanan Vaghul's desk-less office was an indication of where ICICI saw itself heading, this spanking new, 11-storey building is the totem pole for the new ICICI and its super-charged CEO, K.V. Kamath. I can actually string together a sentence with the sobriquets the man attracts. How about, the wired go-getter travelling at the speed of light to build a one-stop shop financial supermarket.

But that's part of the reason why I'm visiting. Can a building be a metaphor for an organisation, its workforce, the CEO...its raison d'etre?

You may have heard this before, but this marriage of granite, waterfalls, and glass lifts doesn't fit in with the head office of a corporation that maintains strong ties with the government. It's well known that, with sales of about Rs 9,000 crore in 1999-2000, ICICI has overtaken pedigreed peers like the Industrial Development Bank of India and the Industrial Finance Corporation of India. ICICI's market cap, at Rs 6,742 crore, far overshadows IDBI's Rs 2,840 crore. The rules have also changed: ICICI now competes against the gamut of global financial institutions, NBFCs, and commercial banks. It's a tough market. It's also a great building. But does that have a role in determining what a great place ICICI is to work in?

I take a walk-about. There's a huge open space on the ground floor, festooned with decorations for Christmas, and fed by waterfalls. This is the view approximately 1,500 employees of ICICI take in every day, and I must admit it's pleasant. Officially, the office functions between 9.15 am to 5.15 pm. However, most ICICIans come in well before; they stay back later too. Kamath, tries to explain: ''People see excitement and things happening in ICICI. The vaastu of work atmosphere, workplace and tools has to be in balance. The move to ICICI Towers has created the workplace and tools which are right and the organisation structural changes has given the comfort.'' Take the North Tower if you work with ICICI. And head south for its subsidiaries.

A Metaphor For HR

Sure, it's just one of those swanky office complexes. But, in many ways, it's more, much more than that. Ever since Vaghul, who steered ICICI for the 10 years to 1996, ICICI has always sought to be different from its sibling financial institutions. Kamath has taken this sense of distinction one step further. Today, ICICI is a diversified financial services firm with a strong retail presence. It also wants to be wired, and this again shows in the Towers, which has automatic doors, swish cards, an intranet, and a dozen ways to say hello.

Underlying the technology is a workplace that generates excitement. Ambition, there is aplenty in corporate India; a constant state of excitement exists in very few companies. ICICI has both. Mind you, all this comes without a jumbo compensation package. On an average, ICICI employees get paid 60 per cent of rival financial services firms' salaries. Annual increments are not 'sexy', but hefty bonuses make up somewhat. Of course, if you happen to be a 'star performer' there's much to smile about.

But then, by and large, it's not the money that drives people to join ICICI. It's a chance to earn your spurs in the HLL of the financial services sector. That's what has made it a first-day choice for the recruitment process, be it in the IIT-IIM combination, or among lawyers, Chartered Accountants and so on. In the last two years, ICICI has been a Day One company at all the major campuses, the IIMs, the IITs, XLRI and the National Law School of India University.

And then, having got in professionals, ICICI manages a fairly good retention rate. The attrition rate is between 8 to 8.5 per cent per annum, compared to an industry average of 17 per cent. Head-hunters rank the institution as one with the most talented corps of managers. Says Kamath: ''The current attrition rate is healthy. It allows people who want to make a move to do so. It is desirable that certain high fliers make a move; and this becomes an incentive for people to join. That is the sole reason why we are able to get the best crop at the campuses on the first day.''

What is so attractive about ICICI? Is it the empowerment and opportunities that it offers its employees, or is it the flexible organisation structure, embodying progress in change? Or is it fine people-management skills that Kamath has kept at the centre-stage of his vision for ICICI? Kalpana Morparia, Senior General Manager, offers a simple explanation: ''We are able to attract talent because it's perceived to be a happening place. We are at the forefront of what is happening in the financial world, be it infrastructure financing or the first NYSE listing and, therefore, offer them a lot of opportunity.''

Indeed, ICICI has always kept a global perspective and drawn on offering an environment where overseas experience is valued. And then, at the core of ICICI, innovation and drive is encouraged. The growth and success of ICICI has been propelled by its ability to look at things from entirely new perspectives. That's how the financial services giant has developed the market by constantly creating new products, be it mutual funds or retail finance. S.H. Bhojani, Deputy Managing Director, ICICI, has the last word: ''Salary is a hygiene factor, which a person requires, but it will never motivate you. The exit barriers we are building at ICICI are job content, empowerment-what a person feels he can bring to the table.''

C E O  B Y T E S

On what makes ICICI tick as an employer The employee-centric focus. In the last two-to-three years, the ability to leverage technology quickly was made possible by people. Historically, everybody talked about three types of capital-finance, human and technology. We are making human capital the centrepiece of ICICI's strategy. The fourth capital is speed, which we have made the focus point along with human capital, around which technology and finance revolve. On the emphasis on training  I spend a minimum of 10 days learning or teaching to make this an example. Not knowing something is not something to hide, but something that I could correct. The training needs at ICICI are high because it's a company that rides on technology. On the attrition rate at ICICI  ICICI's salary packages are 60 per cent of the peer group, yet attrition rates are nothing to worry about-less than 10 per cent. And that is desirable. It allows people who want to make a move to make it. That becomes an incentive for new people to join us. That's why we are able to get the best crop at campuses on day one.

The First Step

For an organisation that is young (the average age is 34), recruitment is the first, and most important step. ICICI is a serious recruiter on the campuses and seeks a particular 'fit'. What might that be? I ask Morparia She hands me a three-word answer: passion to win. And then tells me a story. When Professor Wayne Brockbank of the University of Michigan first did a workshop for senior executives of ICICI (that was four years ago), he asked each of three groups of executives to describe what best represented them. All three came up with a similar answer: killer instinct. Brockbank refined it to the more palatable 'passion to win'. Either way, smiles Zubin Mody, ICICI's Senior Vice-President for HR: ''This is one of the attributes we look for.''

Empowerment is swift, and complete. After two weeks of an orientation programme (exception: the treasury department, where there is another 15-day orientation), the employee is given an assignment and may even have to take decisions in the very first week itself. Says Madhur Agarwal, fresh in from the Class of 2000, IIM-Calcutta, who joined ICICI in April, 2000: ''The biggest attraction of ICICI is work content.'' Eight months ago, he started with corporate finance portfolio, project loans and corporate loans. Then, he's been part of the strategy and timeline team for ICICI Infotech's public issue. And now, Agarwal is part of the four-member core team for insurance, which works directly with insurance CEO Sanjiv Kerkar. Agarwal gushes: ''The learning and the variety of work would not have been possible anywhere else.''

Another example. And this one's not a rookie. Kalpesh Kikani, who is currently Veep (Major Clients Group), has been with ICICI for the five years... and counting. Says the MBA from NMIMS, Mumbai: ''The prime reason I stuck around is the amount of things I learned. The ability of being able to work with the biggest companies and on the biggest of deals. Finally, it gives me an opportunity to work on cutting-edge technology in the financial world.'' Kikani lists, for instance, how he was able to work on a securitisation deal way back in 1997. Or how, when ICICI was working on its NYSE listing, he was selected as a part of the cross-functional eight-member team that put together the whole ADR issue project. Says Kalpesh: ''The learning value is immense. I am on the lending side and would never have learned how to raise money.''

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