P& G (Rank 2): The office is a loose 'figurate' with no straight lines

SKBCH (Rank 4): The fact that the company, and the sector, are 'happening' helps

Gillette (Rank 10): The open office is a reflection of a flat structure

Colgate-Palmolive (Rank 9): Moving to the suburbs meant space for a gym for Colgate-Palmolive

If you're scouting for threads that connect the top 25 best employers, here is one: five are marketers of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) -and almost all five operate out of expansive, hi-tech, almost palatial corporate headquarters.

Indeed, it's the decision of many of these consumer goods companies to move to state-of-the-art citadels away from the traditional business districts that's one of the major reasons for employee bliss.

They commute less, on an average; they have gyms to work out, cafeterias to schmooze in, 'dens' to unwind, even parking space of their own.

"We've created irregular spaces; that creates a feeling of openness. Everyone is accessible, there's a greater sense of belonging, and there's also less to hide," points out Gary Cofer, Managing Director, P&G India. Adds Derrick Samuel, outgoing Managing Director, Colgate India: "Earlier we worked out of five offices. Today we are all together, which allows us to improve on internal communication." Samuel, for instance, like everybody else at Colgate, joins the queue at lunch time. And he very rarely shuts his cabin door.

Clearly, it's the luxury of space that allows for open offices, which in turn provides the benefits of direct communication (at P&G for instance, use of e-mail decreased 30 per cent ever since the company moved from its three-office set-up in central Mumbai to the suburb of Andheri) and the razing of artificial distinctions. Deepak Jain, a Finance Analyst at Gillette, for instance, says that he "can walk into my CFO's cubicle whenever I like-he's just 10 seats away."

But what else is it about the FMCG factor that is responsible for so many companies making it to the top of the heap? P. Dwarkanath, Head of HR at SmithKline Beecham Consumer Healthcare (which has been merged into Glaxo), proffers an answer. "FMCG has been an evergreen sector."

That's one way of looking at why even today a substantial chunk of the best talent flocks toward FMCG (P&G recruits 25 MBAs annually and Colgate about 15 from the most reputed institutes). Another way of explaining the fascination with FMCG is the keenness with which each of the Indian affiliates soak in the culture of their parents. Narendra Ambwani, Managing Director, Johnson & Johnson for instance lays particular emphasis on the "excellent reward and goal-getting system for our employees."

Arun Sehgal, Regional HR Director, India & South East Asia, Gillette, reveals how the global experience proved handy. "One step we took to retain our people was via accelerated career planning for fast trackers. We leveraged our global experience for this."

Even when designing the corporate headquarters, much of the parent is brought to life at the Indian operations. At P&G, for instance, the two training rooms are named after P&G's founders, William Procter and James Gamble, and 12 "huddle" rooms (conference rooms for you and me) are named after the company's billion dollar brands like Tide, Pampers and Head & Shoulders.

Early responsibility and global opportunities are some of the buzzwords you hear regularly. And clearly those are two of the best motivators you could ever have. At SmithKline, 10 employees were sent on long-term foreign postings last year. Colgate has placed over 50 people overseas over the past four-five years. And P&G India has some 250 of its former employees at different global bases. Responsibilities too come fast: a management trainee at Colgate took charge of management recruitment in six months, and another found himself heading the Bangladesh operations in five years.

Innovations in compensation help: one reason for the under 5 per cent turnover rate at J&J is its mouth-watering stock option plan, which provides senior management, even most managerial staff with shares of the parent. P&G too has its ISOps (international stock options).

Clearly, for most of these companies, keeping the employee satisfied is the means to ensuring that shareholders too stay content. After all, a satisfied employee will tend to work better, which is good for business. As Simon, J. Scarff, CMD, SmithKline Beecham Consumer Healthcare, sums it up: "We expect the best from our employees, in return we give them the best treatment we can." Now only if more of India Inc agreed with that.

-with inputs from Seema Shukla, Abir Pal and Moinak Mitra

The Pharma Rush

DRL (Rank 13): CEO G.V. Prasad (centre) believes work is the biggest motivator

To land a job with one of the MNC subsidiaries in the Indian pharma sector was every B-school grad's dream till recently. Names like Hoechst, Pfizer, and Glaxo seemed to possess an almost magical allure. Not anymore. Indian companies are increasingly being seen as having greater growth opportunities than their MNC counterparts thanks to their emphasis on research. The one Indian-born pharma company that best reflects this trend is Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL).

In 2001 and this far, in 2002, it has been DRL that has hogged the limelight on all fronts, be it research breakthroughs or a successful NYSE listing. Like its big brothers in it, the company has been increasing its focus on HR issues. Ask DRL Vice Chairman and CEO G.V. Prasad, a firm believer in informal work culture, and he says, "Good office space is just a hygiene issue, but what is crucial is the freedom to work, sharing of information, and encouraging informality."

DRL has, over the past two-to-three years, been working towards organisational transformation in a big way. According to Prasad, these changes include more rigorous financial reporting and a HR policy facelift, with focus on learning and development, talent management and performance-orientation. And the gambit seems to have paid off.

-Seema Shukla

Ahead Of The Game
When it comes to competition, Maruti, IOC, and Bhel show they are second to none.

What is common to the only fortune 500 company of India, the largest engineering and manufacturing enterprise in the country, and the still undisputed leader of the Indian car market? Two things that many would say are mutually exclusive: they all have at least 50 per cent of their equity held by the government and they are among the best of employers in the country. While Maruti Udyog, with 50 per cent equity owned by the government, qualifies as a joint sector non-government company, Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd (BHEL) are pure PSUs. But look for the PSU stereotypes-stodginess, for one-in these companies and you won't find too many.

Maruti (Rank 20): CEO Khattar has reason to look happy: the joint sector company is far from stodgy

BHEL has made profits in each of the last 29 years. Maruti, is back in black after making losses last year. And IOC, with Rs 113,000 crore in turnover and Rs 2,720 crore in profits last year, is easily the largest company in the country.

IOC embarked on a programme to prepare itself for the now-impending deregulation of the oil sector way back in 1997. Maruti, faced with the onslaught of multinationals ever since the car market was opened up in the mid-1990s, has launched six models in less than 15 months and still has close to 60 per cent of the marketshare. And BHEL has a performance management system and a competency mapping programme.

However, there is a flip side to working with these non-PSU-like companies. Employment is not the cradle-to-grave kind of thing it was and still is with most other PSUs. BHEL has had three voluntary retirement schemes since 1999. IOC (which has a fast-track programme) as also had a one-time voluntary separation scheme. And Maruti has moved to an appraisal system where only the performance and potential of the employee are the criteria for promotion. Any more questions regarding mutual exclusivity?
-Suveen K. Sinha