Former Chairperson and value custodian Anu Aga (centre) credits Thermex's success to its employees' commitment and ability to "keep the faith despite the hard times"

Be it yearly open forums, or personal updates from the MD, or business heads constantly interacting with team members, every employee is made to fee special

By the time he was leaving school, Somya Bhattacharya was sure about two things: One, he wanted to be an engineer and the other, he wanted to work at Thermax. Standing in front of the modernistic grey stone-and-granite façade that houses Thermax's Energy and Environment Research Centre, the 22-year-old is reminiscing about how he spent hours riffling through the energy and environmental engineering major's product catalogues as an impressionable mechanical engineering student. Colleague Mohan Das who, like Bhattacharya, joined the Rs 830-crore Pune-headquartered corporate a few months back, nods and flashes him a "yes-I've-been-there" look. Only in the case of bespectacled 26-year-old Das, the choice was made not in an engineering college, but on a b-school campus. "We used to discuss the company, its amazing turnaround and great values. Every time I read the case studies, I felt this is where I want to join."

From the pages of management textbooks and straight onto Business Today's Best Companies top 10, Thermax, debuting at #3, also holds the distinction of being the only engineering company to figure in the otherwise tech-heavy ranking. Former Chairperson-she just handed over the baton to daughter Meher Pudumjee-and Thermax board member Anu Aga is thrilled. "I think the credit goes to all the employees who kept the faith despite the hard times. Bouncing back in such a short time only further reinforces our belief in our long-cherished values," gushes Aga who, incidentally, headed the human resources (hr) function for eight years. A period in which she drew heavily on management maven Ricardo Semler and his vision of a truly "democratic organisation". It seems to have worked. As its profits grew, so did Thermax's per employee contribution, jumping 18.6 per cent in the last two years alone.

Good leadership and strong financials aside, Thermax has been able to attract (and retain) the smartest technical minds, in no small measure helped by its reputation as a "great place to work". Fifty-odd graduate engineering trainees are recruited every year from assorted Indian Institutes of Technology (iits) and regional engineering colleges. A stringent selection process involving written tests, group discussions and two intensive panel "grillings" means only one out of eight applicants makes the cut. While engineering degrees are a must, the company in the last few years has woken up to the possibility of something even more mouth-watering: engineers with MBAs. Opines Anindita Banerjee, Lead Consultant with search firm Stanton Chase: "Thermax has the reputation of being a good professional training ground, and other engineering companies often poach from there."

But luring away people is anything but easy. Corporate folklore abounds with tales like the veteran business unit head who, after receiving an outstanding offer from a reputed Delhi-based competitor was on his way out, until the then MD made an emotional appeal to him to stay with the company since it needed him. It worked. Or when in the midst of its darkest hour, a mid-level manager chose to stay, not even disclosing that he was regularly receiving lucrative offers. He eventually left, but only after the company had turned the corner.

The employees' emotional connect is very evident in the proliferation of the various ex-Thermax employee clubs. Not only do former employees regularly meet and socialise, they also subscribe to the corporate newsletter, Fireside, and even route new business Thermax's way. Recalls Aga, who recently was the chief guest at one such lunch hosted by the Dubai chapter: "It's really touching to hear an ex-employee say that the values he imbibed at Thermax still stay with him years after leaving."

Since the time Founder Rohinton Aga outlined the seven-point organisational values, hr has been taken very seriously at Thermax House. The first item on hrd Head Prashant Ahir's to-do list is Employee Engagement. Be it yearly open forums, or personal updates from the MD every month, or business heads constantly talking and interacting with team members, every employee (and there are over 1,255) is made to feel special. An Employee Satisfaction Survey gauges employee expectations and whether they were met, while Samvad (dialogue), a four-step appraisal and performance assessment tool, attempts to make the compensation and reward process as transparent as possible.

With the company in the midst of its McKinsey-assisted transformation plan, which is expected to help catapult it into the global market, formalised structures and processes will become increasingly important. Says Prakash Kulkarni, MD, Thermax, who, incidentally, was away in China with Chairperson Pudumjee scouting for business opportunities: "The turnaround is behind us, and now we are on the aspirational transformation journey of doubling our turnover and tripling our profits in the next three years. This is also a clarion call for organisation building and will require proactive management interventions to take care of the human side of change." "Companies would do well to remember what Thermax's Founder Rohinton Aga said," exhorts R.V. Ramani, a 30-year Thermax veteran, who also doubles up as its in-house spiritual bellwether, "Profits are not just a set of figures, but of values."

INTERVIEW/Prakash Kulkarni/MD "We have to ring-fence our talent"

What are your key challenges? Building leadership depth in the organisation and revitalising the leadership engine (is one). Second is managing the human side of the transformation initiative we've undertaken. The third is the ability to ring-fence talent while the job market is active; and the last is to manage the shift from "relationship orientation" to "performance orientation" while retaining core values of respect and care. How will the transformation be managed? There is no clear picture yet, and much of it will evolve as we go along, but there will clearly be an emphasis on communication and consensus building. Not only will we ask people to follow the outlined thinking, but also try and inspire them. How do you plan to retain talent and build leaders? We will identify a critical mass and then lay emphasis on leadership skills and competence building, and provide accelerated growth opportunities. High-potential individuals will be given greater exposure, higher visibility and asked to chart out a career vision through an ongoing dialogue. How is the shift from relationship orientation to performance orientation being done? We're asking our leadership team to engage in informal coaching and mentoring, especially by value custodians like Anu Aga and the MD to ensure that the message percolates down the line.