Kaleidoscope

DC HR launches — Employee Engagement Portal – Hi5

An employee engagement platform — Hi5, to recognise and build an culture of appreciation was launched by Mr. S. Kanappan, Head & Chief Executive, L&T GeoStructure on 04th September 2019, at HQ-Chennai, in the presence of Dr C. Jayakumar, Vice President & Head — HR, DC.

It is the focus of senior management to introduce high engagement levels, said Dr. CJK, in his opening remarks and to create a culture of appreciation, it was important to build trust which was the origin for this initiative. He thanked SK for supporting the HR fraternity and welcomed everyone to the launch of Hi5.

Congratulating HR, SK said that this initiative was the need of the hour to create a culture of appreciation both at the organisational and personal levels especially at this juncture when the economy was facing challenges. He felt that appreciation should be genuine and that whole- hearted appreciation and rewards went a long way to improve gratitude, self-esteem and confidence of the employee as well as energize employer-employee relationship resulting in commitment, dedication and enhanced productivity levels. SK urged the IC HR Heads and teams to make effective use of Hi5.

Other IC HR Heads present at the launch included Mr. Kabilan J, Head — HR, B&F IC, Mr. Padmanabhan, Head — HR, PT&D IC (Domestic), Mr. Venkatraman Girish, Head — HR, SWC IC, Mr. Barttanu Kumar Das, Head — HR, HC IC, Mr. Bino Mathew Jose, Head — HR, L&T GeoStructure, Talent Managers of ICs and other senior members from the HR fraternity. Ms. Poonam Chandok, Head — HR, TI IC and Mr. Vivek Razaida, Head — HR, MMH IC joined over VC along with their teams from Mumbai, Faridabad and Kolkata respectively.

Hi5 is an online rewards & recognition platform with four different programmes such as

Peer-to-Peer, a social program which enables employees to recognize colleagues across departments, bands, locations & functions;
Manager discretionary — a program for managers to appreciate any achievement, competency and values exhibited by their team members through appreciation messages, ecards & badges;
PRAISE — online recognition for any milestone achievements at site or on the operational front along with redeemable rewards points &
Long Service Awards (LSA) — to recognize longevity and commitment of employees with a provision to send ecards, share any photos and videos, and greet on their social wall. EZthanks, a mobile app version, is also available to recognize teams on the go at the site

This initiative was rolled-out across L&T Construction. Special thanks to the Corporate Communications team especially Ms. Namitha Jayanarayanan for their active involvement in the customisation of the portal online within our brand guidelines. Ms. V. Sheeja, Assistant Manager – DC HR presented the features, functionality and benefits of the solution before the launch of the platform.

B&F develops ‘Q’ snagging mobile application

B&F IC’s Al Rayyan Stadium Project (Al Balagh‑L&T JV) developed an online Q Snagging Mobile application ‘Conquer’ with the support of B&F HQ Quality & DC Digital team to capture snagging and completing de-snagging works. The online project customized mobile app was launched by Mr. M.V. Satish (MVS), Whole Time Director & Sr. Executive Vice President (Buildings, Minerals & Metals), on 25th September 2019, at Al Rayyan Stadium Project site, Qatar, in the presence of Mr. L.K. Joseph, Vice President & Head – Special Projects, B&F IC, Mr. V.K. Mehta, Deputy Project Director, ABLT JV Mr. N.R. Vijay Venkatesh, Head (QA/QC), ABLT JV, Mr. K.K. Prasanna, Head — Design, ABLT JV, Mr. V. Anand, Head — Project Controls, ABLT JV & Project team.

Mr. N.R. Vijay Venkatesh briefed on the functionality and benefits of the solution that included the generation of instant digital reports accessible for project site execution and to quality and client representatives. MVS congratulated the Quality & Project teams and urged them to complete the project by maintaining the highest standards of safety and quality and staying abreast of the latest technologies.

Tracking of O&M resources is now ‘live’ at PT&D

A mobile App and Web module to track and monitor patrollers and fibre rectification teams, meant to be used in cross-country OFC projects to maintain the health of the network, was launched by Mr. T. Madhava Das, Sr. Vice President & Head of PT&D IC on 17th July 2019. Developed by the BSNL-OFC-Package E team, the app tracks project resources (including all their O&M patrollers and FRT Members) real-time, to digitalize all their O&M activities and create reports easily. With the involvement of the project team and ably supported by the IC’s digital team and the division’s Geo Spatial team, the final version of the app and web module have been customized for live tracking and is available for daily use.

WET IC launches two key digital solutions

WET IC in its endeavor to address key problem areas with digital interventions developed two digital solutions — Pipe Fabrication App and WISA, aimed to improve tracking and automation of various manual activities that were launched by Mr. S. Rajavel, Senior Vice President & Head, WSWC in the presence of Mr. Anantha Sayana, Chief Digital Officer, L&T, Mr. K. Asok Kumar, Executive Vice President & Head — Water & Effluent Treatment, Mr. N. Ramasethu, Vice President & Head — Water International BU, Mr. K. Masilamani, Vice President & Head — Industrial and Large Water BU, Mr. S.C. Satish, General Manager & Head, Smart Water Infrastructure BU, Mr. G. Balasubramanian, Head — Corporate Centre WET IC along with other dignitaries from the L&T Nxt Team, WET IC Digital Team and WET IC HR Workmen team.

Pipe Fabrication App: is customized to track the status of pipes right from manufacturing to installation through an industrial grade QR code. At any given point of time, the exact status of the pipe (Manufacturing, Hydro Testing, Painting, Guniting, Quality Inspection, etc.) can be ascertained in real time through intuitive dashboards. The application automates all the quality compliance records and reports thereby eliminating various manual processes.

WISA – Workforce Induction and Skill Application: digitizes the complete process of on-boarding workforce at project sites. It covers workforce enrolment, health screening, skill assessment, safety induction, generation of unique workmen ID Cards, attendance capture and viewing workforce information through facial recognition/QR code and recording appreciations & raising observations. It also facilitates analytics on workforce data to gain insights on workmen migration pattern, behaviour, churn, subcontractor performance, etc.

The WET IC senior leadership team appreciated the efforts of the L&T Nxt Team and WET IC’s Digital Team, gave valuable suggestions to further enhance the utility of the applications and urged for the rollout of the two applications across all project sites to reap their benefits.

‘Future of Power in Tamil Nadu’ conference held at HQ Chennai

PT&D played host to a daylong conference on ‘Future of Power in Tamil Nadu: Challenges, Innovation & Emerging Technologies in Power Sector’ organized by the Madras Chamber of Commerce & Industry and India Energy Forum on 6th September 2019 at our Convention Centre in Manapakkam campus. Thiru P. Thangamani, Honourable Minister for Electricity, Govt. of Tamil Nadu inaugurated the event and mentioned that TN will have 9000MW installed capacity of solar energy by 2023 and highlighted some of the industry friendly and consumer centric initiatives by the Govt. of Tamil Nadu.

In his key note address Mr. T. Madhava Das (TMD), Sr. VP & Head – PT&D IC highlighted how the EPC industry overall and L&T in particular had helped Tamil Nadu tackle the shortage situation of a few years ago to reach a level of sufficiency presently in terms of power supply, by building several key substations and transmission lines. He assured that L&T was geared to propel the future of TN electricity in its digitalization, distributed generation, decarbonization journey.

Several policy makers, industry players and professionals came together and deliberated on topics such as E‑mobility, Digital Transformation, Renewable Energy, Emerging Technologies and Sustainable Practices.

2nd Batch of Saudi GET Engineers, PT&D‑KSA, inducted

Saudi Vision 2030 and Saudi Aramco’s InKingdom Total Value Add Program (IKTVA) initiative are targeted to increase levels of domestic value creation to, in turn, create quality jobs for Saudis. As part of which the 2nd batch of 13 Saudi engineers were inducted into Larsen & Toubro Saudi Arabia (PT&D IC) at an event held on 15th July 2019 in AI-Khobar that was graced by senior dignitaries of Saudi Aramco, Saudi Electricity Company and National Grid who handed over the training completion certificates and employment letters to the new employees.

The gathering was welcomed by Mr. Srikant Srinivasan, Vice President & Head HR (PT&D IC), Mr. T. Amareswara Rao, Head PT&D Middle East, Mr. V. Babu, Head-HR (PT&D International) and Mr. Paresh Prakash-Head, PT&D (KSA) with words of encouragement and guidance for the on-boarding GETs, who gave an impromptu presentation of their training experience and the surprises they encountered in India during their tenure at various LTSA sites. The dignitaries were all praise for the presentations after which the GETs thanked L&T for being one of the pioneers to design such tailor- made programmes for Saudi nationals.

DC HR kick-starts BIS Induction Programme and Project Awards

DC-HR kick-started the Build India Scholarship Batch XXII Induction programme and Project Awards on 13th September 2019.

Dr. C. Jayakumar, Vice President & Head HR, Divisional Corporate set the context by mentioning that BIS Programme had been envisioned by the late Dr A Ramakrishna, former DMD L&T. Started in 1998 and currently in its 22nd year, the initiative is perhaps the longest running user-oriented programme in the country. He mentioned that the core objective of organizing the BIS Induction programme was to give BIS students an overview of the ICs and experience IC-level interaction right at the onset. He highlighted various process improvement initiatives undertaken in the recent past to make BIS more robust and aligned to industry, market and L&T requirements.

Sharing the journey of the BIS Programme from its inception, Mr. A. L. Sekar, Sr. Vice President — Special Projects HCI IC and one of the flagbearers of the programme, stressed the necessity of a Project Manager to be a ‘Jack of all trades’, highlighting the need to club technical knowledge with project management skills and encouraged the BIS students to be versatile.

Mr. P. Niranjana, Head — Technology & Corporate Services HC IC and a regular visitor at BIS Institutes, advised the students to be abreast with the latest technologies, be ever prepared to add value to the organization and to envision themselves as future leaders of L&T.

Congratulating the new batch on their selection for the L&T BIS Programme 2019–21, Dr Kumar Neeraj Jha, Professor, IIT Delhi, shared tips on how to make most of their time in the 2 years of M. Tech at IITs/ NITs.

Mr. Tijo C Mathew, BIS Alum (2001–03) and Ms. Harshitha S. Kumar, BIS Alum (2002–04) shared their journeys as BIS scholars to becoming leaders at L&T and guided the students to approach the BIS programme and a career at L&T with sincerity and an open mind. The inauguration session was followed by an IC — wise induction programme during which the students met the IC Technical Champions, HR Heads and BIS HR Champions.

The vibrant batch of students were further motivated by the BIS Project Awards honouring the best projects submitted as part of the curriculum. 11 participants from Batch 20 with the best final year projects from BIS institutes competed in the Project Awards, making presentations before a jury of renowned members that included Dr V.T. Chandra Sekhar Rao, Dean L&T Institute of Project Management and professors from BIS Partner Institutes.

National Level Seminar on Role of Architects and Design Engineers in Safe Buildings

EDRC CB&A of B&F IC in association with the Fire & Security Association of India (FSAI) jointly organized a National Level Seminar on ‘Role of Architects and Design Engineers in Safe Buildings’ on 21st October 2019 along with Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ISHRAE), Indian Plumbing Association (IPA) & Institute of Fire Engineers (IFE).

The event was graced by Mr. K. Veerappan, VP & Head, EDRC, B&F IC, Mr. R. Balakrishnan, General Manager & Head, MEP Design, CB&A, B&F IC, Mr. S. Padmanathan, Chief Engg. Manager, CB&A, B&F IC, Mr. S Ramani, IPS DGP & Director (RTD) TNFRS, President – IFE (UK), SIB, Mr. Pankaj Dharkar, International President of FSAI, Mr. K P Dominic, National President of FSAI, Ar. Venkatesh, Architect & Director, C R Narayana Rao Architects, Mr. Abasaheb Kale, Vice President, Marsh Risk Consulting – Business Development, Mr. Kandeepan, one of the founder member of ISHRAE & MEP Consultant — M/s S R Associates, Mr. Abhash Lehry, President, IPA, Mr. M Namasivayam, Former D F O, TNFRS, Mr. R. C. Sharma, Former Director, Delhi Fire Service, Mr. Sekhar Raghavan, the Rain Man & other esteemed dignitaries from similar fields.

Setting the context for the seminar, Mr S. Padmanathan emphasized the “Importance of integration of Architects and Design Engineers” following which Mr. R. Balakrishnan delivered the welcome address stressing on the recent observations of major fire accidents across the country. As the space is getting constrained, buildings are getting taller leading to various kinds of uninvited risks, he said.

Delivering the keynote address, Mr. K. Veerappan highlighted the stack effect in taller buildings leading to fires spreading during the summer and winter seasons.

The presentation session highlighted the key role of ‘PANCHBOOTHA’ in high rise buildings and importance of fire services to mitigate accidents to make high rise buildings safe.

This entire event formed a framework to link multiple disciplines like Architecture (Space), HVAC (Air), Plumbing (Water), Fire and Electrical Engineers (Fire), and Structural Engineers (Earth) to one platform, such as PANCHABOOTHA, to enable seamless operation of all systems for building safety. Insights on related topics like ‘Role of Property Loss Prevention Engineers in creating Safe Buildings,’ ‘Current Challenges faced in Fire Fighting Operations,’ ‘Passive Fire Protection,’ and ‘Rainwater Harvesting’ were emphasized during the presentations. Professional bodies like FSAI, ISHRAE and IPA briefed about the ‘National Codes’ on ‘Fire Protection and Life safety’ and a few sponsor presentations shared technological prospects of achieving building safety. The panel discussions were on architecture considerations of Life Safety, Performance Based Design, Design of Smoke Ventilation System, Green Building Rating, Safe Building Rating and implementation of fire safety norms across country.

The successful and well-attended seminar drew participants from L&T as well as external professionals with active interaction and knowledge sharing sessions throughout the event. The seminar was conducted in memory of 88th birth anniversary of our beloved former President of India — Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.

BKN conferred the TA Pai Young HR Leader Award

Bikram Keshori Nayak (BKN), Head HR, L&TNxT, was conferred the prestigious T A Pai Young HR Leader Award 2019 at a national platform. He received the award from Mr. Jaspal Bindra, Chairman Centrum Group on 5th November 2019 at a glittering function in Mumbai presented by People Business, powered by Economic Times and TA Pai Management Institute (TAPMI).

The award was conferred after a gruelling interview and selection process by a jury comprising Raj Raghavan (Sr. VP and Head HR, Indigo), Manmohan Kalsy (CHRO, United Breweries), Rajkamal Vempati (Head HR, Axis Bank), Madhu Srivastava (Group CHRO, Vedanta Resources), Prince Augustin (EVP, Human Capital, Mahindra & Mahindra), & Director TAPMI, from 450 nominations received from all over the country. The event was also attended by renowned CEOs and CHROs along with the best managers of corporate India.

First Level Leadership Programme – Wave 5, Batch 8 inaugurated

Towards strengthening the leadership pipeline, the 8th batch of the First Level Leadership Programme (FLLP-2019) commenced on 12th November 2019 at L&T HQ, Chennai. Mr M.V. Satish, Whole Time Director & Sr. Executive Vice President — Buildings, Minerals & Metals, Mr. S.V. Desai, Sr. Vice President & Head — HCI IC and Mr. S. Kanappan, Executive Vice President & Head and Chief Executive of L&T GeoStructure inaugurated the programme and addressed the gathering in the presence of Dr C. Jayakumar, VP & Head HR — Divisional Corporate, IC HR Heads — Mr. S. Ramkishore, Head HR — WET IC, Mr. J. Kabilan, Head HR — B&F IC, Mr. Bino Mathew Jose, Head HR – L&T GeoStructure, Mr. Girish V, Head HR — SW&C and Ms. K. Meena Priya, Head-HR LTIEL.

To set the context, Dr. C. Jayakumar emphasized the Management’s strong support for FLLP in terms of time, experience sharing of their journeys to becoming strong leaders He articulated the content, methodology, faculty, selection of participants and the learning principles of the scientifically designed programme and threw light on the evaluation process involving simulation exercises, actionoriented projects, gamification, ATL and quizzes.

Mr. M.V Satish started his address on a high mentioning L&T’s 15% growth in Q2. Sharing his early experiences of working in Iraq, Russia, Oman, etc, he exhorted the young managers to create their own space while focussing on safety, quality and productivity. He stressed the need to assess workmen to ensure that they have the right skillset for the work assigned to them and to embrace the latest construction methods and technologies like toilet PODs and 3D elements in construction. He stressed the need to focus on customer satisfaction, networking and financial knowledge to be effective leaders.

Mr. S.V. Desai in his address highlighted that as ambassadors of the organization, it was important for the FLLPs to lead by example and manage their time effectively. He spoke about self-empowerment, shouldering responsibilities, being accountable and continuous selfassessment of performance.

Emphasising the need to continuously introspect, learn, and unlearn to become effective leaders, Mr. S. Kanappan nudged them to identify gaps, leverage strengths and face challenges by using both heart and head. He reiterated that communication, financial competency and relationship building would take them to greater heights.

FLLP was developed on the theme of ‘Leaders of Tomorrow’ and conceptualized to take forward the vision of strengthening the leadership pipeline by grooming talented employees in Tier‑1 cadre handpicked across ICs. The course curriculum follows a blended approach of learning spread over 25 days of classroom contact classes that are supplemented with online e‑learning ATL (Any Time Learning), online quizzes through RAPL, simulation exercises and a group project to internalize learnings. The sessions are handled by senior faculty from IIM, XLRI and International Universities.

WET IC launches ‘ASCEND’ program for fostering Women Leadership

WET IC has taken the lead across L&T Construction to develop a focused development initiative for Women Managers christened ‘ASCEND’ which was launched on August 30, 2019, by Mr. S. Rajavel, Sr. Vice President & Head — Water, Smart World & Communication in the presence of Mr. K. Asok Kumar, Executive Vice President & Head — Water & Effluent Treatment, Mr. N. Ramasethu, Vice President & Head — Water International, Mr. K. Masilamani, Vice President & Head — Industrial & Large Water Systems BU, Mr. E. P. Sajit, Vice President & Head — Water Supply & Distribution BU, Mr. K. Rajeevan, Head — EDRC (WET IC) and Mr. S. Ramkishore, Head — HR (WET IC).

The program is conceived as a 3‑stage intervention process:

Stage 1- self-exploratory process
Stage 2- capbiliy building interventions
Stage 3- comprises peer group learning / coaching interactions which include cross functional work group assignments on current / future organizational challenges with mentors drawn from top management

After the 6‑month long programme, the progress of the participants will be reviewed on a half-yearly basis. An All-Women Resource Pool, which includes internal / external leaders, subject matter experts in respective areas will facilitate the program. Wave 1 of ASCEND Program was launched with 37 Tier 1 and Tier 2 Women Managers of WET IC participating.

L&T makes it presence felt at the Water & Development Summit, Sri Lanka

WET IC participated in the Asian Water and Development Congress cum Expo organized by the International Water Association (IWA) in association with the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB), Government of Sri Lanka. The event, a first-of-its-kind, was held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall in Colombo, Sri Lanka over 1st to 5th Dec 2019.

The Congress was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Minister for Urban Development, Housing & Water Affairs Mr. Vasudeva Nanayakkara and saw active participation of senior bureaucrats from NWSDB.

Water & Effluent Treatment IC, being a Corporate Member of IWA, was one of the key sponsors of this event. Mr. Mohamed Ahmed Salah M.E.Sc., P.Eng — Water Technologist, WET IC and Mr. J Venkatesh — Head Water Management, WET IC were selected as Chairs at this prestigious forum for key topics that included: major challenges to achieve SDG Goal 6 of the United Nations, Smart Systems for Wastewater Treatment Processes (Monitoring & Digital Transformation).

A delegation from Chennai and Colombo led by Mr. S Jagannathan, Chief Technology Officer, WET IC participated in various technical forums and delivered key insights on Drinking Water Supply & Treatment, Faecal Sludge & Wastewater Treatment for Resource Recovery, City Water & Faecal Sludge Utility Management Services, Integrated Water Resource Management, efforts towards SDG 6 of UN. A stall put up by WET IC showcased their EPC capabilities through highlights of landmark projects.

L&T GeoStructure Wins Prestigious Award in the Gold Category for the Best Skill Development initiative

L&T GeoStructure won an Award in the Gold Category for the Best Skill Development initiative for our Planning Engineers Capability Development Programme (PEP-3G3). The award initiated by India’s top management institute TISS (Tata Institute of Social Science) & LeapVault was presented at the CLO (Chief Learning Officers) Summit 2019 India held in Mumbai on 8th August, 2019. The Award was received by Mr. Bino Mathew Jose (Head-Human Resources) & Ms. Ratna Mishra (Senior Manager- Human Resources), L&T GeoStructure.

PEP-3G3 Programme is a flagship capability programme initiated by L&T GeoStructure in 2018 in association with L&T IPM (Institute of Project Management) Baroda as the knowledge partner with the objective to develop a strong team of planning professionals with specific requirements as per the business strategic plan of 3G3 i.e. to achieve 3 times growth in 3 years. The flagship programme is spread over a period of 8 months. L&T GeoStructure has added another feather to its cap by winning the TISS & LeapVault CLO award for the 2nd consecutive year, a proud moment for all of us at L&T!

DKS chairs technical sessions at infrastructure summits

Mr. D K Sen (DKS), Whole time Director & Senior Executive Vice President (Infrastructure) chaired a session on Creating World Class Roads & Highways in India: Evolving Technology Landscape at the Infranet 2019 organized by CII on 4th September 2019 in New Delhi. The conference covered three technical sessions: Emerging Business Opportunities from the Roads & Highways Value Chain, Creating World Class Roads & Highways in India: Evolving Technology Landscape and Arbitration & Dispute Resolution in Roads & Highways Sector. DKS shared insights on the world-class infrastructure built by L&T in the GCC countries and how digital solutions implemented across sites were redefining project management and meeting customer expectations. At the construction and infrastructure summit organized by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors on 6th November in Mumbai, DKS delivered a special address on ‘The Changing face of Indian Construction & Infrastructure Markets.’