Life Banao With BIG 92.7 FM

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At BIG 92.7 FM, having an ‘Employee First’ culture gives the employees the impetus to walk that extra mile...

Just when punters were writing epitaphs of our age-old radio; this industry took a U-turn and rose like a phoenix from the ashes proving its naysayers wrong. Today we are swaying to the music provided by a host of radio channels thronging not just the metros, but also making the tier 2 & 3 cities swing to its tune. And in such a competitive environment, each channel is adopting different strategies to outshadow one another. In such a scenario the role of HR becomes all the more dynamic as talented work-force becomes extremely vital for the sustenance of a channel. While speaking to 4Ps B&M, John Lancelot Cutinha, VP, HR, Big 92.7 FM points out, “The employees of today are not mere employees – they are your partners & your associates. So there is a need to inculcate the right set of values & culture in them.” With close to 70 radio channels operating in the country, it becomes extremely difficult to stand out in the clutter & carve a niche for yourself. But despite being a late entrant in the sector, Big 92.7 FM has, in a short span of time, created a strong position for itself in the market. They created history by starting eight stations in just eight months. The radio station always planned to be ‘Big’ because for them ‘Big is Better’ & ‘Big is Beautiful’. Huge promotional activities and roping in Abhishek Bachchan soon saw them closing the gap with market leader Radio Mirchi. But the radio channel soon realised that this was not enough. The much-hyped marketing efforts need to be complemented with strong & talented workforce. And thus the role of the HR in the organisation became even more proactive than before. The think tank of the human resources at Big 92.7 FM were of the firm belief that there exists a strong relation between companies who are doing well & companies which have good HR practices in place.

So the first step for the HR department was to set up a strong culture in the organisation. And the foremost step in the process was to be an ‘Employee First Organisation’. John Cutinha says, “If people are happy & satisfied, then they would be willing to walk that extra mile to create a great product. Producing a great product would impact the company’s performance in a positive manner and lead to a greater employee satisfaction. Employee satisfaction would lead to customer satisfaction which in turn translates into shareholder’s satisfaction. So it’s the whole chain and one needs to add value at each stage of this chain and having an ‘Employee First Organisation’ culture helps to achieve that.” Big 92.7 firmly believes in its people centric approach, which is clearly reflected in its training programs, recognition & reward schemes.

Training is of utmost importance at Big 92.7 FM because it is the one factor that enables them to differentiate not only from other radio channels but also from other media companies. They have instilled a drive towards creating a learning environment across all their stations. For developing a culture of learning in the organisation Big 92.7 FM heavily relies on e-learning. And to strengthen this they have tied up with US-based firms like Danoday (for programmers training) & Keep Tingle (for RJ training). They also send some of their associates to US for training at RAB (Regional Advertising Broadcaster in the US) & NAB (National Association of Broadcaster in the US) and on returning these associates share their experience & learnings with the rest of the clan.

The HR at Big 92.7 FM was quick to realise that in the media domain there is a constant need to strike a balance between the technical & creative workforce, for each individual has his/her own set of needs, passion and prejudices. The first step is to understand them and only then think of measures to motivate them. The focus is at making each day a special experience for employees as erratic schedule & odd work hours might take a toll on their creativity, and also leave very little time for private life as well. So the radio channel has taken upon itself to celebrates the birthday’s of its associates in a big way. One day in the month is fixed to celebrate the birthday’s of all the associates together. An awards ceremony is also organised on the same day to give away awards like The Big Sales Associate, The Big RJ Associate, The Big Programming Associate awards et al. States John Cutinha, “The USP of Big 92.7 FM is their Catchya Awards. Catchya stands for spontaneous recognition of someone doing something positive in terms of great contribution or nice behaviour et al. ” Another important day for Big 92.7 FM is its birthday bash around the Valentine’s Day. The entire week is celebrated as the ‘Big Week’, where contribution of the employees is acknowledged.

Like any other sector, radio is also feeling the heat of retaining good talent as employees are constantly poached by offering higher salaries. To tackle this issue Big 92.7 FM has adopted a Cafeteria Approach in its remuneration policy. Here the employees have an option – within a frame work – to alter the heads under which they get their salary on a platter. This helps them to pick and choose the kind of salary structure they want as per their requirements.

Big 92.7 FM from the very start has taken its social responsibilities seriously & is now integrating its recruitment policy with its CSR initiatives. States John Cutinha, “We are planning to induct physically challenged people for copywriting etc. If these people are talented then the physical incompetence should not be a barrier for their employment.” The HR at Big 92.7 FM revolves around its robust people centric culture. Getting their act together and laying greater emphasis on getting its HR practices bang on, has helped Big 92.7 FM become the largest radio network in India and an example for the entire industry to marvel and soon follow.

4Ps B&M research: Pallavi Srivastava & Surbhi Chawla

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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