Are companies really employee-centric?

HCL leader Vineet Nayyar questioned in HBR blog as to who would be the catalyst to change in an organization – employees or their leaders? The company has been in the news for the substantial improvement it has made – thanks to the Employees First, Customers Second initiative undertaken by the company. According to the website, ‘the initiative places the needs of employees before the needs of customers. This seemingly counterintuitive strategy has provoked a sea-change at the company, and, believe it or not, greater customer loyalty, better engagements and higher revenues.’ The company has placed the employees first but for what? The organization’s gain. How long would employees support such an initiative? Every knowledge worker is continuously questioning his organization about the value it is providing him or her. What is in it for me has become a standard question?

When we undertake an employee-centric change management initiative, aren't we deviating from the core objective of empowering employees? Here, change is initiated from the interest of the organization - to power HCL into the big league, for example. From a career perspective, employees might or might not benefit from an initiative like this as the value they derive as an individual is questionable. This initiative, from an employees perspective, is yet another motivational programme. If an organization wishes to accelerate, the focus should be on improving employees' performance (very obvious) - individually. Like how a coach works with an athlete or any sportsman. The focus is not on Olympics or CWG but continuous improvement. How can he better his forehand, how can he improve his speed from 10 seconds to 9.5 seconds? Likewise, can't organizations focus on individual performance to ensure mutual benefits and then collective gain?