It is tough being a new employee and having no clue of the organisation´s culture. Most new hires feel like outsiders in the beginning and to prevent this feeling of isolation, we devised a Buddy Scheme that would help the new member adjust to the company´s culture and build personal relationships with co-workers.

The Scheme was launched in 2010 and we saw it as a great way to accelerate the new joinees ability to deal with early disconcerting issues and understand the organisation’s vision and philosophy.

The Buddy Scheme was a voluntary activity and an employee who had spent at least 2 years in the organisation, had got high performance ratings, had proven interpersonal skills as noted in competency ratings year on year, was involved in similar job function as the new hire, and most importantly, felt a sense of pride to be working for Apeejay Surrendra Group, could volunteer to be a Buddy. The selected Buddies then underwent an orientation program where they were explained their role and the expectations from them.

All in all, the Buddy Scheme helped spread goodwill across the Group and it also rewarded those who volunteered. All Buddies had flags at their workstations and their volunteering role was mentioned in the Performance Management System, under the Capability Learning and Growth section.