Rinel Rodrigues Associate Director, TresVista
1.What measures has TresVista taken to foster a positive work environment and support its employees' well-being?
Providing an environment that catalyzes our employees’ long-term success is a crucial part of TresVista’s culture and operational structure. We have a hybrid work structure where employees can choose 2 days out of the week to work from home. We also have a flexwork policy that is available to employees – taking into consideration TresVista’s diverse workforce, it allows employees to visit family living elsewhere and utilize vacation days for other occasions.
We have 11 active hobby clubs driven by employees that cover a range of interests. Squad Goals is a monthly affair where teams are engaged in theme-based activities designed to build team morale and share best practices. We also have monthly knowledge-sharing sessions – ‘Share the Dias’ and ‘Spotlight,’ which are employee-led initiatives that aim to facilitate the discussion and dissemination of ideas and work projects. Breathe is TresVista’s employee wellness assistance program which focuses on the mental well-being of our employees and their family members by providing free counseling, peer group support, and stress control sessions.
As a company, we hold ourselves accountable for our employees’ satisfaction and take effective action toward making a positive impact on their lives.
2. Could you cite any initiatives exemplifying the firm's dedication to professional development, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace?
At TresVista, diversity and inclusion are more than just policies or headcounts. We recognize the importance of diversity in the workplace and encourage varying perspectives, uniqueness, and individuality. TresVista’s DEI committee was instituted to action the steps needed to identify and tackle any issues in the workplace and provide oversight, strategic guidance, governance, and direction to all DEI initiatives.
For the benefit of our women employees, we have our WiT (Women in TresVista) cell. I established WiT in 2017 to build a network of women employees in TresVista and provide a platform for them to uplift each other personally and professionally. WiT designs and organizes a variety of initiatives ranging from collaborations with various NGOs to providing professional development workshops, mentorship programs, networking opportunities, and engagement activities.
Training at TresVista is known industry-wide for its effectiveness and holistic structure. Some examples would be our Analyst Academy and Associate Engagement program, designed to enhance technical and managerial skills using a self-paced learning structure. Monthly platforms to share ideas, long-standing mentorship programs, upskilling opportunities, and new promotes training are other examples of the options available to our employees. Regular training and upskilling are mandatory parts of TresVista culture, regardless of designation.
3. With respect to compensation and benefits, how does TresVista ensure its packages remain competitive within the industry?
Every 3-4 years, TresVista undergoes a comprehensive compensation benchmarking process, where we compare our company’s compensation structure relative to similar jobs in other organizations. As a financial services company, we closely monitor market conditions and strive to make data-driven decisions. The benchmarking process equips us with the data we need to ensure that our employees have competitive compensation packages that rival giants within and outside the industry.
We recognize that monetary incentive plays a powerful role in motivating and driving initiative. Employees want to feel valued and appreciated in their workplace, and paying them justly is one of the ways we showcase our commitment to their well-being.
4. What are the company's approaches to upskilling and reskilling their people to ensure they possess the necessary capabilities for success?
TresVista fosters a culture of growth that aims at impacting the long-term development of our employees. From an Analyst to a Director, every phase of an employee’s growth is mapped and transparent – planned in a way that builds and hones their business skills at each level.
On the technical upskilling front, TresVista has a carefully curated training structure that includes new hire training, soft skills training, promotes training, self-paced technical and managerial training modules, mentorship programs, and many other periodic training sessions and opportunities that take place throughout the year.
Going hand-in-hand with these initiatives are efforts taken to ensure an open and accessible platform to cater to each employee’s unique interests and ideas. We also have monthly knowledge-sharing sessions, ‘Share the Dias’ and ‘Spotlight,’ which are again employee-led initiatives that aim to facilitate the discussion and dissemination of ideas and work projects that employees are passionate about.
5. Could you recount any instances demonstrating how TresVista managed rapid growth while maintaining focus on its personnel?
In TresVista’s history, we have never had layoffs, and the same applied during the COVID-19 outbreak. In fact, we ended up onboarding more employees than our initial target for FY21. To enhance the
work-from-home experience for our employees, a lot of planning and swift execution took place without losing the quality and efficiency of the services we provide to our clients.
We faced numerous challenges after transitioning to remote working overnight. Ensuring the safety and well-being of our employees while maintaining our high-quality output was the primary focus – achieved with our Policies-Training-Platform pyramid approach. The existing policies were no longer suitable, and therefore making that shift swiftly and efficiently was the first task. Switching to 100% work-from-home resulted in employees needing laptops to work, dependency on strong internet connection at all ends, along with the requirement of office furniture to be able to work standard expected hours. We also took measures to ensure the Pan-India physical and mental health of our employees and their families, including vaccines and medical aid. The intricate training structure also had to be made available in the remote working system. This included our TresVista mandatory training as well as upskilling opportunities under our ‘UpSkill to ThriVe‘ initiative. We also did not compromise on the engagement and personal
well-being of our employees with the help of Hobbly Clubs with 11 different factions and Squad Goals sessions introduced and scheduled for all teams.
6. How does the organization gauge the effectiveness of its programs?
The effectiveness of all programs and initiatives at TresVista aligns with our founding principle, PACT (People, Action, Clients, Team), which guides decision-making at every stage of our growth. The implementation of every initiative is made seamless and effective through a string of research, communication, and planning done behind the scenes. Projects are reviewed on a timely basis through regular feedback and employee surveys. At TresVista, making data-driven decisions backed by research and analysis is what we do best. We gather statistics on participation, feedback from employees, as well as data from organizers on a periodic basis to come to the best way to take current projects forward as well as initiate new projects. This process has been followed consistently for all internal and external projects, ensuring that future initiatives get better and better, even as the organization grows larger.
7. Can you discuss any mentorship or training programs that TresVista offers for students or entry-level employees?
All employees undergo a structured onboarding program to understand TresVista’s strategy, culture, and processes to ensure their integration into the firm is as seamless as possible. Each entry-level employee is assigned to a Vice President who walks them through the training process and is always available for any queries or difficulties they might have. The training ranges from two to five weeks, where employees go through in-person or virtual classroom sessions and self-study while executing assignments to solidify their learning. The training is a crucial system aimed at bringing all new joiners to the required standards of work here at TresVista. The training is customized for specific role requirements and includes sessions on HR, IT, Software, Compliance processes, department requirements, skill-based training, etc. It sets the bar of expectation across the firm and is the same irrespective of levels, from departmental specifics to the basics such as PowerPoint, Excel, and Communication Skills.
A continuous training effort that we provide entry-level employees is the Analyst Academy and Associate engagement program designed to enhance technical and managerial skills with a self-paced learning structure.
There is also a structured mentorship program designed to create a space for dialogue that results in reflection, action, and learning for both the mentor and mentee. The program guides mentees on managing up and across, identifying critical skills for potential future roles, and broadening perspectives. It currently has a pool of ~137 mentors, increasing as the program grows.
8. Finally, what advice would you recommend to other companies striving to prioritize their employees' well-being and career development, as TresVista has?
However big a company gets, taking effective action to make an employee’s time at work more satisfying makes a mountain of difference, catalyzing initiative, engagement, and productivity in the work that they do.
A critical aspect of any job is the monetary incentives. Offering a competitive salary is a good starting point to ensure good talent is attracted to the organization. However, this is not a one-off thing, as ensuring growth within the organization adds to retention and satisfaction in the long run, which is imperative in the grand scheme of things. Setting an effective feedback mechanism is key, as even with the best of intentions, you will not always know what is best for your employees. Accepting feedback and being transparent about the actions taken to implement that feedback will put you in a favorable position in your employees’ eyes.
Getting the basics right is the first step, but there are many other issues, varying with location, industry, position, etcetera, that a company must decipher to secure the long-term satisfaction of employees. Initiatives to ensure employees’ mental, physical, and emotional well-being are key. Investing in their future by providing a clear growth structure, technical and soft skills training, and flexible work options is also essential. Equally important is making this knowledge widespread and accessible to employees.
‘Guaranteeing employees‘ satisfaction and keeping them happy is not an outcome that an organization can create on demand. But, unique to each organization, there are steps that must be taken and measures that need to be put in place. Organizations have to go the extra mile to ensure a culture of transparency, growth, and understanding.
Linkedin profile of Ms Rinel – https://www.linkedin.com/in/rinelrodrigues/
Company URL – https://www.tresvista.com/
