HYDERABAD: Ravi Tangirala, Head of MassMutual India and a member of the advisory council of IT, I&C, Government of Telangana, talks about how a Global Capability Centre (GCC) was established in Hyderabad in a record time of two months and 21 days.
Moreover, the organisation went a step ahead in contributing to social welfare by hiring girls from underprivileged backgrounds in collaboration with the Telangana State Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS). Recently, the company also organised a free health camp at Arlagudem, Bhadrachalam where over 1,800 people participated in the camp for free medical consultation and treatment.
Here is an excerpt from the discussion we had with Tangirala who invited us to visit the GCC at Financial District in Hyderabad. He took us on a tour of the campus and showed us the facilities available for employees. We had a glimpse of their world-class amenities including a gym, lounge, auditorium, cafeteria and audio-visual training rooms.
Tell us about how the company was established.
MassMutual India’s parent organisation is a 172/173-year-old organisation. The word Mass stands for Massachusetts and Mutual is the organisational philosophy. A lot of people think that MassMutual India is a mutual fund company, which is not the case. In our case, the two key contributors of the organisation are the policyholders and the employees as it reflects our 'Live Mutual' philosophy.
We started establishing this GCC in January 2020 and by March 2020 we were already offering our first payroll. So right from the paperwork, to hiring the talent, onboarding, project orientation, maintaining the delivery and the success was all done in just about two months.
The crucial challenge was to make people understand the philosophy of the organisation and that was the time when COVID was just appearing on the scene. Making internal communication and building trust with stakeholders remotely was one of the biggest challenges. There was a lot of support from the parent organisation and also the leadership and the associates, their contribution was significant.
What qualities do you look for while hiring employees and how do you make them deliver?
We want to make sure we contribute to the society in which we are operating because we are in the life and annuities business. We come from the people’s angle. That’s the fundamental foundation of our thought process coming to social and tribal welfare. While we have access to all the premium schools and colleges, we wanted to think out of the box. What does a typical company look for? They look for the right talent with the right attitude.
Aptitude is something that we can inculcate in people but attitude, passion, zeal, and willingness to learn and grow are things we look for. These GCCs are now becoming a strategic arm for the parent. When we started during the peak of the pandemic, ensuring health, safety and then when we were supposed to bring the workforce back to the office, we had to take care of some highly critical aspects. We had to take care of their acceptance and willingness. Now, 80-85% of our workforce is back in the office and it is our accomplishment.
We slowly started identifying the critical areas where we absolutely need people in the office. We helped them understand the criticality of their role. We talked about innovation, collaboration problems, problem-solving environment, and psychological well-being and health. We helped them understand this and said, why don’t we try coming to the office three days a week and if things don’t work out we can reconsider? But when people came back, we never had to think about it twice.
Tell us about the rural outreach program. What was the thought process behind hiring candidates from underprivileged backgrounds?
It is a mutually beneficial program. We wanted to give an opportunity to people to come and work for a global organisation and show that they are no less than any other student who went to a premium college just because they’re fortunate enough to have the resources. When we got an opportunity to work with the tribal and social welfare institutions, one thing that we found is that we did not have to compromise on anything.
We realised that we were hiring high-end talent. All they were missing were a few things like soft skills, some vocabulary and communication skills, but when it comes to the ability to execute and deliver, we found that they are the best. It really helped support the decision that we took to help them and now they are helping us manifolds.
Tell us about the free health camp and how it helped change people’s lives.
We are an LLP (Limited Liability Partnership) organisation, so there is no mandate for us to carry out CSR activities. We do them to help the needy. I attended all the medical camps that were organised by our employees. A woman, literally all skin and bones, came to me and said something in her language. People told me that she is blessing me to live a thousand years and when I asked why she said that, they told me that it was the first time in the 80 years of her life that she was able to get a clear eyesight.
Otherwise, she would just tell a human and an animal apart by judging their height. The other thing with one of the nonprofits is the focus on child health. A sick child between zero to nine years of age is a liability to working-class families. They literally want the child to either get cured or die. The doctors say sometimes people don’t have Rs 5,000 to get the treatment they need and the kid dies. These kids can probably be the rock stars in the future, right?
What message do you want to give out to the industry stakeholders with these initiatives?
Now that we have established MoUs to work with this society, we are going to utilise the right talent in multiple areas of our organisation. Secondly, we feel that we need to have individuals who should be ready for the corporate world right out of the campus.
We have established Centres of Excellence (COEs) and IDEA labs at some institutes to teach artificial intelligence and data engineering. The focus is on cutting-edge technologies where we are utilising these COE labs to bridge the gap between the campus and the real world.