Employee experience: How it works at Iris

At Iris, we put employees at the center of everything we do, following our motto of “Employee First, Client First”. Our value proposition to employees is outlined through our five foundations:

Great place to perform: a place where our employees have the freedom to do the best work of their life. We set clear expectations, measure performance, and provide our people with the tools and resources to succeed.  When you build a supportive environment, amazing things happen. At Iris, we see this everyday — people frequently delivering superlative work to exceed client expectations.

We put deep thought into the culture we are building. We are patient in hiring the right people and never give up on anyone.  We believe that with inspirational leadership, feedback, coaching and mentoring, people will deliver performance.

Great place to grow: we provide our employees with career opportunities that match their capabilities with their aspirations. We help them realize their potential with the right coaching, mentoring and on-the-job training.

We have created a talent architecture framework for revamping levels, grades, career paths and competencies for employees. Business unit leaders chart growth plans for their teams and help them fulfill their aspirations. For instance, we launched a certification program in India last year to groom project management talent.

We ensure that all our employees attend between four and eight days of training every year, depending upon their respective roles. To cultivate leaders, we introduced, in our India office last year a coaching program by the Great Manager Institute for 40 managers.

Great place to be appreciated: We understand that all employees like to be appreciated, acknowledged, and respected for their work. At Iris, we recognize individuals and teams with several awards for delivering results – big and small — and for going beyond the call of duty.

Great place to connect: The environment in our offices encourages teamwork and promotes social connectivity. Many formal and informal programs have made this possible. Our iNovus program is a platform for enterprise innovation. Hundreds of employees participate as members of teams drawn from different departments. We encourage Irisians to participate in hackathons. The Iris Premier League has more than 12 cricket teams participating in a spirit of fun and camaraderie.

Water cooler talk was a casualty of a work-from-home world. So, we launched a virtual Hallway Chat program where two employees are paired at random once a week with their peers, thus encouraging them to collaborate and build relationships.

Great place to belong: We want Iris to be a place that fosters a sense of belongingness. A place where leaders listen to the voice of employees. We have built a work environment of trust and transparency, where we encourage employees to ask questions about the direction of the organization and their careers as well as give feedback to leaders on issues that impede their performance or affect their morale.

We have several HR initiatives to facilitate such an environment, including 180-degree feedback; skip meetings, townhalls, culture surveys, pulse surveys, and HR business partner programs.