Making An Organisation "A Great Place To Work"

For  Muthoot  Microfin  (MML), one of the leading microfinance companies in India, welfare of its employees is as important as the welfare of its customers. It is the 6th largest NBFC-MFI in India, serving 1.9 million women entrepreneurs from economically vulnerable sections of the society, with a network of 752 branches spread across 17 states. Muthoot Microfin is the microfinance arm of Kerala  based  Muthoot  Pappachan  Group  -  one  of  the largest conglomerates in India.

Recently, the company has been selected among the top 30 Best places to work in BFSI Industry in India by the ‘Great Place to Work Institute’, out of the 100 organizations in the sector that undertook this assessment. This is following the organisation’s Great Place To Work certification during Sep 2018- Aug ‘19 and Feb 2021- Jan ’22 periods.

Based on a rigorous evaluation, the Great Place To Work Institute  recognised Muthoot  Microfin among the top 30 organizations. The company excelled both   on   people practices  designed for  employees  and the  employee feedback on creating a High Trust Culture.

Commenting on the recognition, Mr Sadaf Sayeed (CEO) says,  “This  was  a  particularly  difficult  year  considering the  pandemic  situation,  the  recognition  is  a  result  of high  level  of  commitment,  motivation  and  dedication of  our  employees.  During  the  year,  Muthoot  Microfin’s Management took several proactive steps in the interest of safety and welfare of its employees. Not only did Muthoot Microfin offer job security to all its employees, but it also offered a flexible WFH option. We also bought Covid-19 insurance cover for all our employees, provided safety kits and ensured proper sanitised work environments. Our HR team played a key role in creating awareness about COVID dos and don’ts, the team also remained in contact with all our employees throughout the lockdown period. This is  what  has  contributed  to building  and  maintaining high trust culture in the organisation.”

While it is an honour to be  recognised  as  Great Place  to  Work  and  to feature  among  the  top 30  workplaces  in  BFSI industry, Muthoot Microfin does not take this certificate for granted. The organisation continues to innovate and execute better people practises across all its offices and focusses on continuously motivating its employees to do better . Muthoot Microfin has always been and continues to be a people-centric company. The core values of the organisation  have  remained  the  basis  of  its  work  and organisational  culture.  The  organisation  embraces  its customers’ and employees’ welfare at every point.

In the words of Mr Subhransu Pattnayak (Head - HR), “Every day, we think of initiatives to further develop and engage our employees, we work on all ideas & feedback and execute them in the best possible way to the benefit of our employees. Featuring among Best places to work in BFSI is one of the brightest feathers on our cap”.

The  organisation  retained  the  Great  Place  To  Work recognition after a rigorous employee survey, done across its offices in the country, to scale standards of high-trust and performance culture at its workplace. All Muthootians, not just those working directly with customers are accountable to deliver the best service to its customers. Being a social enterprise,  MML  management  has  been  successful  in instilling pride among its employees over the work they do for the society.

The GPTW Institute’s evaluation is based on the audit of the company’s Human Resource practices and policies as well as anonymous feedback from its employees on the organization culture. Randomly selected Muthoot Microfin staff responded to the Great Place to Work survey which asked  questions  based  on  five  dimensions  of  employee trust: respect, fairness, credibility, pride, and camaraderie.

During the survey, training and development activities of the organisation were found to be one of its core strengths, the online and offline methodologies that the company adopted during the pandemic to enhance the knowledge and  competency  skills  of  employees  stood  out  best. Additionally,  the  initiatives  taken  towards  ‘appreciating work’  was  one  of  the  key  differentiators.  Another  key differentiator  was  the  transparency  in  the  performance evaluation  and  fair  promotions.  The  “No  favouritism” approach  and  profit  sharing  in  the  workplace  domain helped the company take the top spot in Best places to work in BFSI sector.

Muthootians,  as  the  employees  of  Muthoot  Pappachan Group  are  called,  feel  proud  in  winning  and  retaining the recognition, especially those who have been with the organisation for many years, as the certification is primarily granted on employee feedback.

Muthoot Microfin continues to build a company culture where  people  want  to  be,  and  this honour  is  indeed  a validation for its high energy and high-performance work culture. The achievement is truly world class as every year more than 10,000 organisations from over 60 countries partner Great Place to Work® Institute for assessment, benchmarking and planning actions to strengthen their workplace  culture.  Great  Place  to  Work®  Institute’s methodology  is  recognised  as  rigorous  and  objective and is considered as the gold standard for defining great workplaces across the world.