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Que Sera Sierra!
HAPPY SMILES: Fresh recruits and their parents attending the induction programme at Sierra Atlantic office in Hyderabad recently.
FOR JAHOOR Ahmed, a foreman working in a public sector unit, information technology was hi-fi mumbo-jumbo though his office had a computer cell. He never dreamt of visiting a software office, leave alone interacting with techie geeks.
Of course, his hopes were pinned on his son, Dawood Khan, an engineering graduate, to join the software express. Yet, when Khan got recruited into Sierra Atlantic, an IT company here, Ahmed did not bargain to get an invitation to join his son for the induction ceremony and be treated like an honoured guest.
Joy knows no bounds
"It was a pleasant surprise. I certainly wasn't expecting to be invited with my son. It felt very good as parents do not generally get to visit their wards' offices," says Ahmed. He is not the only one, there are others like Madhav Vyas, a businessman, whose son, Vyom Vyas, too, is a recent recruit.
He, too, is pretty elated. "I went with my son to school once, then to college once and now to his office. It was a very special feeling. Which company bothers to think of their employees' parents these days? We were made to feel like extended family members," exclaims Vyas.
And, that was precisely the objective behind Sierra Atlantic's calling parents of their fresh recruits as part of their `New College Graduate' programme. "Our company runs on emotions. While we are growing we do not want to lose our personal touch and wish to extend the emotional bond to parents of our employees as well," explains D. Sravan Kumar, Senior Manager, HR and Training.
Strong familial bond
The concept introduced this year is based on strong familial bonds. "Almost every new recruit makes it a point to discuss the job offer with his/her parents before taking a decision. Parents have waited for an entire day as their wards go through the tests and the joy on their faces when they get through is an emotional sight," he says.
On the induction day, parents and their wards are given an insight by the Managing Director, Sarath Sura, on the firm's corporate philosophy, culture, ethics and future. Parents' queries are answered and later, they lunch with their children in the canteen.
"We want to make the parents feel assured about the organisation," chips in P. Uday Chander, Director, People Function.
Sierra Atlantic makes no bones about it being a strategy to retain the incoming talent but they have also managed to bridge the generation gap. "My father has always wanted me to join the family business. We don't talk much and I was scared when he was invited. But after he attended the programme, he was very impressed," Vyas says.
"We sit and talk about computers now," says Vyas, pleased as punch.
By V. Geetanath
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Life
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