A social networking site called the Bubble,an office-hours radio station where the RJ takes requests and a BringYourKidtoWork Day every quarter a host of new-fangled measures are aimed at making employees stay on at one of Indias largest and youngest companies. Bangalore-based software services company Infosys has 1,33,560 employees,enough to populate a mid-size town in one of its main markets in the United States or Europe. While Infosys founder-chairman N R Narayana Murthy retired earlier this month upon reaching the age of 60,the median age of its workforce is 27 years. Many of the thousands of new recruits added each quarter are freshly-minted graduates. Indeed,the majority of Infosys workforce would fall under the category of what marketers call Youngistan. It is a different generation and we have to invent creative devices to hook them, says Nandita Gurjar,global head of human resources at Infosys. Infosys Bubble was launched two months ago,a combination of Facebook-like social networking features such as sharing pictures and moods,combined with Twitter-like capabilities to follow others. Far beyond the companys expectations,80,000 employees have already signed on to connect at professional (need advice on Java tools) and personal levels. Heated discussions on Anna Hazare and Indian cricket are trending on Bubble right now. The opinions are strong and the conversation is never trivial, said Richard Lobo,an employee relations manager at Infosys. Ruchi Prasad,23,said she had spent half her life on social networking sites until she joined Infosys marketing team three months ago,right out of college. Now she has hooked up with colleagues all over the world who share her interests swimming and photography. These may be people whose desk she passes by daily at work but whom she only knows though the network. Her colleague Troy in the United Kingdom was just an email address until they friend-ed each other on Bubble. They now swap notes on fitness. Prasad describes the discussions on Hindi movies,on Bubbles feature called Water Cooler,as insane. This is so kickass. Its like having my own little Facebook at work, says Prasad. She is excited that she follows Infosys head of Retail on Bubble. As in many other companies,social networking sites are out-of-bounds at Infosys. So,Bubble has become an approximation of the real online worlds open,democratic flow of opinions and ideas. For instance,employees can Like a new corporate policy or Dislike the food at one of the campus cafes. The radio channel InfyRadio,whose cheesy tagline goes Supertunes for super people,beams via the intranet. It plays retro Hindi film music and popular western tunes six hours each day on all weekdays. On Murthys last day at work,an RJ interviewed the founder. It has taken our young employees unawares,helped us impress them and given the company an image makeover, said Lobo. Infosys,which turned 30 in July this year,has grown gargantuan in size,and operates in 33 countries globe-wide. The new measures have brought in a sense of belonging. As Indias demographic scale tilts towards an ever-younger population,dealing with a restless workforce that sees fewer boundaries between work and life is becoming an increasing challenge for Indian companies. It is an ambitious,impatient generation that constantly searches for opportunities. Companies do realise that happy employees equals a competitive edge in business. The innovative measures at Infosys are making the right impact so far. Employees are hooked. They are naturals at this, says Gurjar. It started out as a gamble but is turning into a goldmine. Prasad,meanwhile,has also quickly recovered from her other addiction surfing music websites by tuning into InfyRadio. Now she spams the RJs to play her favourites and this week dedicated a song to her team at work. Most of all,Prasad is thrilled to have bragging rights with her friends outside work. I tell them,I have Bubble and InfyRadio. What do you have?
