Job Satisfaction at Infosys and Its Implications for Motivating Employees at Infosys

The main aim of the study is to determine the job satisfaction of employees in Infosys. It includes determining various parameters that influence job satisfaction and also the present level of satisfaction of the employees. To understand employees perceptions about the job and come up with recommendations for the company to improve the level of job satisfaction. The method used to perform the study was a Job Satisfaction Questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of various sections like personal details, working conditions related questions, salary and promotion opportunities related questions, work relationships and skills and abilities related questions and questions on role performed.

The questionnaire was circulated in various project teams at Infosys and also the respondents belonged to various designations. The findings were that employees at Infosys valued work relationships and healthy working conditions the most when it came to job satisfaction. Closely followed were salary, other benefits and opportunities to learn new skills. Regarding working conditions the employees were satisfied with the number of hours spent at office, current location, sick and paid leaves but were dissatisfied with the flexibility at the job. Regarding salary and opportunities for promotion the employees were dissatisfied, however on the parameters of job security, other benefits and recognition for work the employees were satisfied. The results observed suggested that the company should look towards building a long term relationships with the employees by rewarding the deserving employees and providing them with the compensation that is as per industry standards. Surveys should be conducted to understand what is most important to the employees and where the company is lacking in building a healthy relationship with its employees.

INTRODUCTION:

Importance of Job Satisfaction:
Beyond the research literature and studies, job satisfaction is also important in everyday life. Organisations have significant effects on the people who work for them and some of those effects are reflected in how people feel about their work. This makes job satisfaction an issue of substantial importance for both employers and employees. As many studies suggest, employers benefit from satisfied employees as they are more likely to profit from lower staff turnover and higher productivity if their employees experience a high level of job satisfaction. However, employees should also ‘be happy in their work, given the amount of time they have to devote to it throughout their working lives’ (Nguyen, Taylor and Bradley, 2003a). Investigated by several disciplines such as psychology, sociology, economics and managementsciences, job satisfaction is a frequently studied subject in work and organizational literature.This is mainly due to the fact that many experts believe that job satisfaction trends can affectlabor market behavior and influence work productivity, work effort, employee absenteeism andstaff turnover. Moreover, job satisfaction is considered a strong predictor of overall individualwell-being, as well as a good predictor of intentions or decisions of employees to leave a job.

Job satisfaction describes how content an individual is with his or her job. There are a variety of factors that can influence a person’s level of job satisfaction. Some of these factors include the level of pay and benefits, the perceived fairness to the promotion system within a company, the quality of the working conditions, leadership and social relationships and the job itself. Job satisfaction has also been defined as a pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job; an affective reaction to one’s job; and an attitude towards one’s job. Weiss (2002) has argued that job satisfaction is an attitude but points out that researchers should clearly distinguish the objects of cognitive evaluation which are affect (emotion), beliefs and behaviors.

This definition suggests that we form attitudes towards our jobs by taking into account our feelings, our beliefs, and our behaviours. Job satisfaction can also be defined as either as the overall or general job satisfaction of an employee or as the satisfaction with certain facets of the job such as the work itself, coworkers, supervision, pay, working conditions, company policies, procedures and opportunities for promotion(Smith et al.,1969).Based upon these two view points of job satisfaction , it may be measures either as the general or overall satisfaction of an employee with the job or it may be measured as the satisfaction of an employee with the various work facets. For the present study the former view of job satisfaction has adopted

OBJECTIVE OF STUDY:
Presently the Indian IT and ITES industry has the largest attrition rate as compared to otherindustries. Not only the startup companies but also the established companies have been finding it difficult to retain employees. With the unprecedented boom in the IT industry the size of the industry has grown very big and with major IT players employing a huge number of employees, it has become very important to determine the factors that influence job satisfaction in this industry and come up with measures that can lead to higher levels of satisfactions. Infosys being the for-runner of IT in India, this company was selected for the syudy.

The study focuses on examining the data and some trends in jab satisfaction. The objectives of the study include: 1.To determine the parameters that influence job satisfaction in Infosys. 2.To determine the present level of satisfaction of the employees on parameters identified. 3.To outline the main trends and correlations regarding job satisfaction in Infosys. 4.To determine the commitment that the employees have for a long term career with theorganization 5.To understand where the employees rate their organization on the parameters related tojob satisfaction. 6.To enlist the parameters that the organization can improve upon and make related recommendations.

ABOUT THE COMPANY:
Infosys was founded on 2 July 1981 by seven people namely, N R Narayana Murthy, NandanNilekani, Kris Gopalakrishnan, S. D. Shibulal, K Dinesh and with N. S. Raghavan officially being the first employee of the company. Today, Infosys is a global leader in the “next generation” of IT and consulting with revenues of US$ 6.604 billion (LTM Q2-FY12). Infosys defines designs and delivers technology-enabled business solutions that help Global 2000 companies win in a Flat World. Infosys also provides a complete range of services by leveraging our domain and business expertise and strategic alliances with leading technology providers.

Infosys and its subsidiaries have 141,822 employees as on September 30, 2012. Infosys takes pride in building strategic long-term client relationships. 98.5% of its revenues come from existing customers.

Infosys pioneered the Global Delivery Model (GDM), which emerged as a disruptive force in the industry leading to the rise of offshore outsourcing. The GDM is based on the principle of taking work to the location where the best talent is available, where it makes the best economic sense, with the least amount of acceptable risk. Infosys has a global footprint with 64 offices in 29 countries and 65 development centers in US, India, China, Australia, the Czech Republic, Poland, the UK, Canada and Japan.

In 1996, Infosys created the Infosys Foundation in the state of Karnataka, operating in the areas of health care, social rehabilitation and rural uplift, education, arts and culture. Since then, this foundation has spread to the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Orissa and Punjab. The Infosys Foundation is headed by Mrs. Sudha Murthy, wife of Founder Cum Chief Mentor Narayana Murthy.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:
One of the biggest preludes to the study of job satisfaction was the Hawthorne studies. These studies (1924-1933), primarily credited to Elton Mayo of the Harvard Business School, sought to find the effects of various conditions (most notably illumination) on workers’ productivity. These studies ultimately showed that novel changes in work conditions temporarily increase productivity (called the Hawthorne Effect). It was later found that this increase resulted, not from the new conditions, but from the knowledge of being observed. This finding provided strong evidence that people work for purposes other than pay, which paved the way for researchers to investigate other factors in job satisfaction. Scientific management also had a significant impact on the study of job satisfaction. Frederick Winslow Taylor’s 1911 book, Principles of Scientific Management, argued that there was a single best way to perform any given work task. This book contributed to a change in industrial production philosophies, causing a shift from skilled labour and piecework towards the more modern approach of assembly lines and hourly wages. The initial use of scientific management by industries greatly increased productivity because workers were forced to work at a faster pace.

However, workers became exhausted and dissatisfied, thus leaving researchers with new questions to answer regarding job satisfaction. It should also be noted that the work of W.L. Bryan, Walter Dill Scott, and Hugo Munsterberg set the tone for Taylor’s work. Some argue that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, a motivation theory, laid the foundation for job satisfaction theory. This theory explains that people seek to satisfy five specific needs in life – physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, self-esteem needs, and self-actualization. This model served as a good basis from which early researchers could develop job satisfaction theories. Job satisfaction as a significant determinant of organizational commitment has been well documented in numerous studies (Porter et al., 1974; Mottaz, 1987; Williams and Anderson, 1991; Vanderberg and Lance, 1992; Knoop, 1995; Young, Worchel and Woehr, 1998; Testa, 2001).Overall the historical disconnect between the business line and the IT department is a key contributor to job dissatisfaction among software developers and consequently to turnover intentions(McEachern,2001).Rapid obsolescence of acquired knowledge and skills that characterizes IT has contributed to a mind set in which changing jobs frequently viewed as a professional asset as opposed to a stigma or liability(Hacker,

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
The following are the methods and techniques adopted for collection of data and for their analysis in this study. Collection of data and tabulation:Data used for this study was from a secondary source. A person with 3 years of working experience at Infosys and who is acquainted with the company’s policies and working conditions interviewed the people from the product service and support departments and then moved to the product development and marketing divisions. A job satisfaction questionnaire consisting of 17 main questions was drafted and circulated. The 17 questions were divided into following sections:

1.Personal details
2.Employment details
3.Work Condition details
4.Salary and promotion opportunities related details
5.Work relationships details
6.Work activities and role performed details
7.Usage of skills and abilities details
8.Rating the parameters that determine job satisfaction
9.Rating the organization on various parameters
10.Commitment towards a long term career with the company

Editing, classification and tabulation of the financial data collected from the above-mentioned sources have been done as per the requirement of the study. Sample Population: 20 employees

Job Satisfaction Survey Questionnaire:
1.Personal details:
i)Name
ii)Email Id
iii)Mobile Number
iv)Gender
v)Age Category

2.Employment details
i)Employment profile
ii)Years Spent in the Organization

3.Work Condition details
Please rate the following parameters related to working conditions based on
your level of satisfaction?

Very
Dissatisfied

Dissatisfied
Neither
Satisfied nor
DissatisfiedSatisfiedVery Satisfied
Number of hours worked
each week
Flexibility in scheduling
assigned tasks
Current Location of work
Sick Leaves and paid vacation offered

4.Salary and promotion opportunities related details
Please rate the following parameters related to your pay and promotion potential based on your level of satisfaction?
Very
Dissatisfied
Dissatisfied
Neither
Satisfied nor
DissatisfiedSatisfiedVery Satisfied
Salary
Opportunities for promotion
Other Benefits
(health insurance, life
insurance)
Job Security
Recognition to
Work accomplished

5.Work relationships details
Please rate the following parameters related to your work relationships based on your level of satisfaction?

Very
Dissatisfied

Dissatisfied
Neither
Satisfied nor
DissatisfiedSatisfiedVery Satisfied
Relationships
with your coworkers
Relationships with your superiors
Relationships with your subordinates
Overall Team work within the department

6.Work activities and role performed details
Please rate the following parameters related to your work activities and role performed based on your level of satisfaction?

Very
Dissatisfied

Dissatisfied
Neither
Satisfied nor
DissatisfiedSatisfiedVery Satisfied
Variety of Job
Responsibilities
Degree of Independence associated with the work role
Adequate opportunities to
periodic changes in duties
Feedback
process in place

7.Usage of skills and abilities details
Please rate the following parameters related to your skills and abilities based on your level of satisfaction?

Very
Dissatisfied

Dissatisfied
Neither
Satisfied nor
DissatisfiedSatisfiedVery Satisfied
Opportunity to utilize your skills and talent
Opportunity to learn new skills
Support for additional
training and education

8.Rating the parameters that determine job satisfaction

Rank5 Rank4Rank3Rank2Rank1
Working Conditions
Salary and Promotion
Opportunities
Work Relationships
Work activities and Role performed
Opportunities to acquire new skills and
abilities

9.Rating the organization on various parameters

Very
PoorPoorAverageGoodVery Good
Caring about
employees
Attracting high
quality employees
Retaining high
quality employees
Teamwork across
departments
Providing quality
products and
services

10.Commitment towards a long term career with the company

Level of commitment
Percentages
Not Committed at all
Somewhat committed
Not Sure
Committed
Very Committed

DATA COLLECTION AND TABULATION:
1.Job Satisfaction based on Work Conditions:

Very
Dissatisfied

Dissatisfied
Neither
Satisfied nor
DissatisfiedSatisfiedVery Satisfied
Number of hours worked
each week04880
Flexibility in scheduling
assigned tasks28460
Current Location of work022106
Sick Leaves and paid vacation offered46280

2.Job Satisfaction based on Salary and promotion opportunities related details:

Very
Dissatisfied
Dissatisfied
Neither
Satisfied nor
DissatisfiedSatisfiedVery Satisfied
Salary081020
Opportunities for promotion28460
Other Benefits
(health insurance, life
insurance)022142
Job Security602120
Recognition to
Work accomplished244100

3.Job Satisfaction based on Work relationships details:

Very
Dissatisfied

Dissatisfied
Neither
Satisfied nor
DissatisfiedSatisfiedVery Satisfied
Relationships
with your coworkers000146
Relationships with your superiors082100
Relationships with your subordinates006104
Overall Team work within the department002162

4.Job Satisfaction based on Work activities and role performed details:

Very
Dissatisfied

Dissatisfied
Neither
Satisfied nor
DissatisfiedSatisfiedVery Satisfied
Variety of Job
Responsibilities020162
Degree of Independence associated with the work role024122 Adequate opportunities to
periodic changes in duties024140
Feedback
process in place064100

5.Job Satisfaction based on Usage of skills and abilities details:

Very
Dissatisfied

Dissatisfied
Neither
Satisfied nor
DissatisfiedSatisfiedVery Satisfied
Opportunity to utilize your skills and talent002162
Opportunity to learn new skills204140
Support for additional
training and education06284

6.Rating the parameters that determine job satisfaction:

Rank5 Rank4Rank3Rank2Rank1
Working Conditions28244
Salary and Promotion
Opportunities84620
Work Relationships014600
Work activities and Role performed104600
Opportunities to acquire new skills and
abilities24068

7.Rating the organization on various parameters:

Very
PoorPoorAverageGoodVery Good
Caring about
employees04682
Attracting high
quality employees68420
Retaining high
quality employees66440
Teamwork across
departments026120
Providing quality
products and
services002144

8.Commitment towards a long term career with the company:

Level of commitment
Percentages
Not Committed at all 10
Somewhat committed40
Not Sure40
Committed10
Very Committed0

GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF THE DATA:

FINDINGS:
Job Satisfaction based on working conditions:
With respect to number of hours workedeach week, 40% of the employees are satisfied whereas in case of flexibility in schedulingassigned task, 40% of the employees are dissatisfied. Similarly the current work locationassigned is satisfactory for 50% of the employees. However the company needs to focus on its sick leave and paid leaves policy as it is not as per employee satisfaction. Thus there is linearity satisfaction, dissatisfaction values Vs the number of hours worked each week and flexibility in scheduling, respectively. Job Satisfaction based on salary and promotion opportunities: With respect to salary only10% of the employees are satisfied whereas 40% of the employees are dissatisfied and 50% are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. In case of promotion opportunities also 30% of the employees are satisfied and 40% are dissatisfied and 20% are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. With respect to Job security, other benefits and recognition to work the satisfaction % are 70%, 60% and 50% respectively.

Job Satisfaction based on work relationships:
Here the company has done well topromote a healthy atmosphere in the company with respect to co-ordination within theemployees. The satisfaction % in case of relationship with co-workers, superiors and subordinatesis 70%, 50% and 50% respectively. With respect to team work the satisfaction %is overwhelmingly 80%.

Job Satisfaction based on usage of skills and abilities: Here, a significant (80% and 70%)portion of employees believe that they have adequate opportunities to utilize their skillsand abilities when at work. Whereas in case of support for additional training andeducation, the satisfaction % is 40% and hence there is a huge scope for improvement inthis area.

Job Satisfaction based on work activities and role performed: The significant % ofemployees is satisfied with the activities they perform and with the role performed bythem. With respect to job responsibilities 80% of the employees and with respect toopportunities to periodic changes in duties 70% are satisfied. However in case of degreeof independence and feedback process in place there is scope for improvement for thecompany.

Rating given to job satisfaction parameters:
From the ratings given by the employees itcan be concluded that work activities, role performed and salary & promotionopportunities are the most important parameters driving job satisfaction. Closelyfollowed are work relationships, working conditions and opportunities to learn new skills in that order.

Ratings given to organization:
From the ratings it can be concluded that Infosys scoreswell when it comes to delivering quality products and service and team work across theorganization. However, the scores are low in case of attracting quality talent and retaining the high quality employees. Also 40% of the employees agree that Infosys caresfor its employees and values them.

Long term commitment:
From the survey it can observed that most of the employees arenot willing to pursue a long term career with the organization. 40% of the employees aresomewhat committed whereas 40% are not sure about the commitment, 10% are not committed at all. Thus only 10% of the employees are committed for a long term career.

APPLICATION OF HERZERBERG’s TWO FACTOR THEORY OF MOTIVATION: Frederick Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory, also called as motivation hygiene theory proposes that intrinsic factors are related to job satisfaction, while extrinsic factors are associated with job dissatisfaction. It gives the information of when employees feel exceptionally good (satisfied) or bad (dissatisfied) about their job. This theory is applied to the obtained data from Infosys and conclusions are drawn about the company-employee relationship and how employees’ job satisfaction is affected by these parameters. MOTIVATORSHYGEIN FACTORS

•Current location of work
•Other pay benefits
•Job security
•Recognition to work accomplishment
•With coworkers
•With subordinates
•Overall team work
•Variety of job responsibilities
•Periodic change to duties
•Feedback process
•Opportunity to use, learn skills and talent•Salary
•Promotion opportunities
•Organizations care for employees
•Sick leaves and paid vaccation offered
•Superiors
•Opportunity for additional training and education

Extremely satisfiedNeutralExtremely Dissatisfied

From the above table of results, one observes that the factors that determine whether there is dissatisfaction or no dissatisfaction are not part of the work itself, but rather, are external factors Factors that lead to job satisfaction are separate and distinct from those that led to job dissatisfaction.At the same time we could conclude from the above table that those motivation factors which are absent, do not lead to dissatisfaction, but lead to “no satisfaction”. At Infosys, motivator factors include those parameters that change over lifetime. These parameters that give job satisfaction depend on the type of work assigned and the environment in which the work is accomplished. Meanwhile, the hygiene factors are related more with the company’s policies and rules and regulations.

For example, at Infosys the number of sick leaves granted to its employees is fixed and the company cannot exceed the specified limit because of the ever increasing work load in the company. Similarly, Infosys does not allow for many additional training opportunities as the growth within the company is fast and the employees upgrade to good position and take up different kinds of work. Infosys Managers have to eliminate these factors to keep employees from being dissatisfied and not necessarily motivate them. This theory influences how Infosys designs jobs today. RECOMMENDATIONS:

1)Related to working conditions:
• Improvement in paid and sick leave policy: Presently at Infosys employees are notprovided with separate sick leaves and hence in case of any health related issuesthe employees have to sacrifice their paid leaves. So the present leave policyshould be amended to suit employee needs. • There is lack of flexibility with respect to scheduling activities so the companyshould make the managers realize this and can incorporate this in managerial training programs.

2)Related to salary and promotion opportunities:
•These are parameters that lead to higher level of job satisfaction and motivation.So company should timely revisit its compensation structure so as to keep it at parwith the industry standards. This is also important from retention of employees’point of view. •Company should come up with innovative ways to recognize the valuablecontributions made by the individuals.

3)Related to work relationships:
•There is significant amount of dissatisfaction that is observed when it comes torelationships with the superiors. So Infosys can arrange for regular feedbacks been taken from the employees regarding the relationship with superior andaccordingly take measures to improve the relationship through training and otherteam building activities.

4)Related to usage of skills and abilities:
•Employees feel the need for additional technical training and education should beprovided to them along with their ongoing work. This can be achieved byallowing the employees to undergo a specific number of hours of training sessionsand certification every quarter.

5)Related to work activities and role performed:
•Presently officially the feedback is provided only during half yearly appraisalcycles which the employees feel is very generic and the take away is very less. Sothe company should mandate one to one feedback been given to employees afterevery set of related activities so as the employees can know their areas ofimprovement and work on it.

6)Other recommendations:
•Infosys should take steps to build a long term association with the employees byunderstanding the needs and wants of the employees through various programsand surveys. •Infosys should focus on attracting quality talent and work on retention ofemployees by providing them with best treatment possible and perks whichmatch or are above industry standards. The company should focus on qualitythan on numbers.

CONCLUSION:
A major challenge faced by Infosys is, developing and maintaining Organizationalbehavior and Job satisfaction. It is the interest of all organization to secure commitment and reduce employee turnover. So this topic has attracted the interest of many researchers. Infosys managers need to make effort to develop human resource policies that are in alignment to the needs and motivation of its employees. The findings of this study have pointed out some salient issues faced in the company like that of training, and education, relation with superiors, etc.. It is imperative for Infosys management to meet the demands of their employees to strengthen their motivation, satisfaction, and commitment to minimize turnover.

REFERENCES:

1.Job Satisfaction Survey, Volume 3, Edition 5, Absolute Advantage, Published by WELCO (Wellness Council of America). 2.Measuring job Satisfaction In Surveys- Comparative Analytical Report, 3.Meyer, J. P., Becker, T. E., &Vandenberghe, C. (2004). Employee commitment andmotivation: A conceptual analysis and integrative model. Journal of Applied Psychology,89, 991-1007 4.Prasad L.M. (2002).OrganizationalBehavior: New Delhi: Sultan Chand &Sons Publishers. 5.Riaz, Adnan.,&Ramay, Muhammad. (2010). Antecedents of Job satisfaction-A study oftelecom sector. Perspectives of Innovations, Economics and Business, Vol.4, 66-73.