QAD Inc. announced that QAD India has won an award for Best Innovative Employee Development Practice of the Year by HR Infotech Association (HRIA); an influential Human Resources organization in India.
"We are excited to win this award in such an important market with our innovative approach to how people build their careers," said QAD Senior VP and Chief People Officer Kaye Swanson. "Our employees are our most important assets, and the level of people we've been able to hire and develop in India has been remarkable. This award validates QAD's belief that if you build innovative processes where people have more control over their career and development, and where their managers are deeply involved throughout the employee lifecycle, ultimately everyone wins."
The HR Infotech Association (HRIA) is an Indian not-for-profit organization for HR professionals in the Information Technology industry that promotes HR practices in the Indian IT sector. It has hosted over 200 events since 1995, giving more than 75,000 human resource professional attendees a platform to share and learn the practical approach to a variety of IT industry human resources issues. This year, the HRIA Mumbai Chapter introduced HR Excellence Awards for two categories; Best Innovative Employee Development Practice of the Year and Best Out of the Box HR Practice. QAD was considered for the first category.
QAD India was recognized for its employee development approach, an employee-connect process that begins when an employee is hired and focuses on development through coaching and mentorship. When QAD interviews a prospective employee, hiring managers evaluate that prospective employee on a variety of attributes including work style, culture, fit, career plans, current competencies and behavior traits. All QAD hiring managers are well-versed in QAD's culture, strategy and vision, and communicate these with candidates while discussing expectations and career goals.
When a candidate is hired, they are assigned a mentor whose job is to guide them through their first 60 days of employment. This initial period includes training in soft skills, certification courses, and a wide range of development through feedback from other employees and managers. A yearly employee survey solicits input on important topics with results being incorporated into the ongoing employee development program.
Anand Dhruv, president of HRIA Mumbai Chapter, presented the award to QAD India Human Resources Manager RupaliMahadik during an award ceremony.
"We are impressed with QAD's innovative practices around employee development," Anand Dhruv, president of HRIA Mumbai Chapter. "We appreciate their contribution toward employee Talent Management practices, specifically, the First 60 Days program, and the Buddy Initiative. Our judges also appreciated QAD's practice of HR Business Partners and Hiring Managers jointly discussing candidates' expectations and cultural fit before being hired. We value our association with QAD and offer sincere congratulations on this award."
Based in Santa Barbara, California, QAD provides enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and services for global manufacturing companies across the automotive, life sciences, consumer products, food and beverage, high technology and industrial manufacturing industries. Its India office in Mumbai was founded in October 2005 and was recently expanded to help service the increasingly important Asia Pacific market, and especially India's rapidly-growing automotive industry.
