Who is a liquid coding champion? A crack coder at Tavant Technologies. For those who think coding is the stuff spy stories are made of, well, it is the backbone of a software programme. In any IT solutions busi-ness, when a client gives a specification for a certain pro-gramme, it seldom stays what it started out as. A good coder will keep this in mind and ensure his work is flexible from day one. That way, he doesn’t have to start all over again when the specifications change. At Tavant, a Bangalore-based provider of IT solutions in mortgage and warranty services, it is this adaptability that gets more points than most other things.

There are no fancy architectural trimmings at Tavant’s offices. What one does notice, however, is that employees are all self-contained masters and mistresses of their time and work. It helps that CEO Sarvesh Mahesh (who is also a mem-ber of the team that set up online database maker Junglee Corp., which was sold to Amazon.com in 1998), feels an open work environment works best. “At Tavant, it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. If one waits for per-mission, matters just get delayed. Since our value system of customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and growth is in place, there is no need to worry .”

This credo of openness stretches to the critical recruitment process. The HR department has organised an elite group of 34 employees — who have veto power in a recruitment decision — into a body called the ‘Bar Raisers’. If a Bar member feels a potential recruit does not match up to Tavant’s standards, then he can overrule the recruitment panel’s decision. Another example is the annual survey about the appraisal process. It is an anonymous survey that asks each employee if the evaluations were fair.

One of Tavant’s singular characteristics is a few work-a-day HR development initiatives. For instance, it has con-stituted a 20-member ‘Performance Task Force’, a cross-functional team that keeps track of what needs to be plugged, and what seems to be working. It goes back to HR every six months to deliver feedback. A popular initiative is ‘People Champions’ where every project team has one facilitator from the HR department. The people champion takes care of any administrative need a project might have, leaving the project members free to concentrate on their work.

Says Srinivas Reddy Vudumulu, vice-president (global HR): “As long as an individual has an opportunity to make an impact, whatever the job may be, the person is still interested.” An employee turnover rate of 14 per cent, less that the industry average of 17 per cent, bears out his statement. In Sanskrit language, the word Tavant translates to ‘so much, so good’. That’s just the way things seems to be going for the company at the moment.