In a recent survey conducted by the Great Place to Work® Institute, Ajuba has been ranked the 9th Best Company To Work For in India across industries. Ajuba has also been ranked 1st within the ITES Industry category.

The Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc. is a research and management consultancy with offices around the world. The institute has been evaluating employers through its employees over the past two decades, to understand what makes a great workplace. It is believed that strong trust between the employee and management enables the smooth functioning of an organization. The survey is designed to understand  the employees’ trust in the company and the company’s initiatives towards employee welfare. This survey is conducted in about 40 countries around the world. This year, the survey saw the participation of 427 companies in India across industries, including business giants like Google, Intel and Marriott. The study was conducted by the Great Place to Work® Institute in partnership with The Economic Times.  

These laurels come to Ajuba as a result of its employee’s response to the survey. The company’s efforts in providing a holistic work experience through various learning opportunities, health programs, celebrations and employee-centered work environment, has not gone unrecognized. The study indicates that employees rated the company 100% in satisfaction and 99% in parameters such as family feeling and celebrations. Further, the survey reveals that Ajuba is one of the 5 companies that has an employee base with more than 40% women.

Considering the inextinguishable desire to nurture its employees and help build a progressive career, Ajuba seems to have embarked on a swift journey to the top of the list.

We all communicate with different people and at different levels. For example, when you communicate with your family and friends, it is very casual and informal. However when you communicate with your clients, customers, superiors, peers and subordinates, it is formal. In a professional setting, your communication skills can enhance or sabotage your career. Our written and verbal skills can be a key factor in making all the difference!

Having this thought in mind we are glad to share with you the last five tips in “The Art of Effective Communication” series.

1. Confidence: One of the keys to being an effective communicator is being confident while speaking. Maintain a confident tone and speak at a comfortable pace.
2. Articulate Better / Enunciation: While speaking try to open your mouth and pronounce the words clearly. Bad pronunciation or incorrect grammar can ruin your message and distract the listener.
3. Vocabulary: I can’t stress enough on the importance of a good vocabulary. A good vocabulary will give you good command over the English language. You could develop your vocabulary by reading a lot, using a dictionary often, playing Scrabble or other word games. If you learn a new word try to use it, so that you don’t forget it!
4. Your voice: Your voice is a very powerful instrument, learn to use it effectively. Modulate your voice, try not to sound monotonous. Modulating your voice can help make you sound more interesting. Inflecting your voice while speaking helps to keep the listener engaged.
5. Know what you’re talking about: A lot of us at times talk about topics that we may not know much about. There is an old saying; “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing” – this stands good even today. If you want to sound intelligent, then do your homework before the process of communication.

If you truly are passionate about improving your communication skill, you will need to practice a lot.

One of the keys to the success of any great leader today, is effective communication. You will be surprised to know that they practice their speeches, until they know that they can make an impression!

Good luck in your quest to master “The Art of Effective Communication”.

Learning is not attained by chance. It must be sought
for with ardor and attended to with diligence.
- Abigail Adams

 In today’s world, Personal finance plays a key role in deciding the assets and liabilities for a person and efficiently managing the expenses. The most essential aspect of planning finance is raising a self budget. Shaping up our savings and expenses within the income that we draw helps us live a contended life.

The different components taken into account for planning finance are savings account, investments in stock market, usage of credit cards, consumer loans, insurance policies, retirement plans and managing of income tax.

A person should always keep a tab on the assets and liabilities that he or she possesses. This will help chart out expenses and in turn help in calculating the ability to take up new responsibilities. Expenses that prove exorbitant or unnecessary can be excluded. It will prove fruitful to inculcate the habit of saving. Financial planning is highly necessary to meet inflation and other urgent expenses. One should set aside funds to meet unpredictable or unavoidable expenses like a medical emergency.

It comes as no surprise that an increase in our income results in increased income tax liability. Planning personal finance will help us direct our income towards savings and manage our income tax in a significant manner.

Help can be sought from the various financial planning agencies or advisory agents in making investments and security market planning. Adequate protection and low risk should be ensured in the investments being considered. Insurance policies should be taken up when an asset is bought. This will cover the risk when unforeseen damages occur (insurance policies also offer tax benefits).

Pre-planning is vital while making huge investments like a house or car. To obtain the best deal, extensive research should be carried out and quotations from various vendors should be taken before making the investment.

Caution and planning while applying for loans will prove to be a lighter burden. These days, loans are easily available at competitive interest rates. However, the loan amount should be decided based on the income of a person and hidden charges should be considered if any. This will indeed reduce the stress of paying up the loan.

Planning for retirement is necessary to understand how much it might cost to live after retirement and to come up with a plan to distribute assets to meet shortfalls. This can be taken care of by wise investments in pension plans.

Personal financial planning will help you save your best for your rest!

Communication is both an art and a skill that is extremely crucial in today’s business world. Hence it is vital that you focus on developing your communication skills. Remember this, “it is important to understand and to be understood!”

Here we go with the next five tips in our series of fifteen tips that could help you master the “Art of Effective Communication”:

1. Assumptions – the mother of all sins! It is general tendency for us to assume things in the process of communication; after all we are humans. However, for us to be an effective communicator, it is in our best interest to not make assumptions. Always be clear and check your understanding by asking relevant questions.
2. Body language: It accounts for approximately 60 to 70 percent of any face-to-face communication. Hence, it is extremely important to maintain a positive body posture while in the process of communicating. �
3. Tone of voice: It is not what you say, but how you say it that matters. Well, as the phrase itself indicates, your tone of voice is what decides as to how the listener will perceive what you are saying. You could speak a sentence that is totally harmless; however just try to speak the same sentence and this time increase your tone of voice, you will find the difference.
4. Rate of speech (ROS): The purpose of communicating is to convey a message, thought, emotion or feeling. The person you are communicating with should be able to follow what you are saying. Hence, it is imperative to maintain a comfortable ROS so that you are understood.
5. Choice of Words: Not many understand that in order for you to be a truly effective communicator, it is very important for you to use the right words. If you are an avid reader you should not find it difficult to choose the right words!

 Look out for the last five tips in this series!

The IPL brings along with it the end to the wait for IPL Super Selector. After the success of last year’s IPL Super Selector, we were eagerly looking forward to the same. The activity is designed to incorporate a factor of luck, knowledge about the sport and the players. Apart from the excitement of watching the match, employees stand a chance to take home prizes. Here’s another reason to watch out for the IPL scores.

Before the start of IPL, employees selected their 15 member team (batsmen, bowlers, wicketkeepers, fielders) from 3 categories: Gold, Silver and Bronze. For every run and wicket scored by the chosen players, employees are rewarded points. At the end of the match, the employee who score the maximum no. of points win.

Prizes rained all through out the IPL season as top scorers of each week were given gift vouchers worth Rs. 500, Rs. 400 and Rs. 250 respectively. At the end of IPL, the employees with the first ten highest overall scores were awarded prizes. The overall highest scorer was awarded Rs.5,000/-, the runner-up with a reward of Rs. 3,000/- and the 3rd place winner took home Rs. 2,000/-. 75 ranks were picked at random and Satyam Gift vouchers were given away to employees. To complete the fun experience, the person with the least score was also given a consolation prize. Thus ended IPL 2010 at Ajuba. Congratulations to all the winners.

On a Saturday morning, when most of the city slept in late, there was an enthusiastic gathering at the Marina beach. Standing apart from the regular morning walkers of the Marina, was a mob clad in white T-shirts with the slogan ‘Walk for health’. The excited crowd of Ajuba employees as well as their near and dear ones took part in this health initiative by Svasth.

World Health Day was celebrated on April 7th, and Ajuba organized various initiatives to instill the benefits of healthy life to its employees. Bringing the concept of healthy eating into action, the employees were introduced to a soups and salads bar. The lunch counters had an array of fresh vegetable and sprouts which was a big hit among the employees.

In connection with the same, Ajuba organized a walkathon for its employees on April 17th to emphasize the importance of fitness and health in this fast paced world. The walkathon began from Ezhilagam, until the light house and back, spanning a distance of 6 kms. During the brisk walk, as they breathed in the fresh morning air and felt their limbs being exercised, they came to realize that getting fit doesn’t essentially mean taking up a complicated exercise regimen. A simple activity like walking daily will go a long way in staying fit. At the end of the walk, the participants enthusiastically assured to practice walking everyday to lead a healthy life.

In today’s globalized economy, the key to one’s success lies in being able to communicate effectively. Communication has evolved with technology. Hence, learning to use the various tools available in an effective way becomes crucial.

Effective communication is an art that can be learnt. So, what is it that sets you apart? It is by practicing, that you truly master the art of effective communication.

To start off with, here are the first five tips in a series of fifteen tips that you could put to use in your day-to-day communication:

1. Listen, Listen, Listen! You may be surprised to know that a key to being an effective communicator also lies in being an effective listener!

2. Brevity is the Soul of Wit: Say what you have to say in clear, short and simple sentences. Don’t try to complicate it by using unnecessary jargon.

3. Be Focused: What you say must be clear, precise and to the point. ‘Beating around the bush’ will not result in a productive conversation.

4. Be assertive: It is important to be assertive and never get into unnecessary arguments. Always try to seek common ground. Have a win-win approach!

5. Being Objective: While in the process of communicating, try to be as objective as possible which means not jumping to conclusions or having preconceived notions. Pay attention to facts and ask questions to check your understanding. Your judgment should be unbiased and with out prejudice.

Watch out this space for more tips from us to communicate effectively!

This Monday morning turned out to be a break from the usual Monday blues. The colourful festival of Holi came to life with a difference. Splashing colours at each other would have been fun if we were kids and all we had to think about was enjoying ourselves. But being at work, we found a more subtle way to experience festival of colours. Apart from the challenge to come dressed in one’s most colourful attire, the other festive activities were Face Painting & Flower Arrangement which set the celebration mood in action.

Since colour and contrast play an essential role in face painting and flower arrangement they were chosen in tune with the festival.

The artistically designed hues created patterns on one’s face, camouflaging the facial features; in some cases tactfully using these to enhance the overall picture. The artist bearing the materials and the one having their face painted were worth watching as the art took form. The winning entry was themed ‘Donate your organs’. For those with a talent to arrange flowers in an aesthetic fashion, flower arrangement proved a fitting challenge. This event unlike face painting was carried out in teams. The floral arrangement under the caption ‘Nature at its best’ was awarded the first place.

Ajuba captured these festivities through snapshots. Each team’s comic expressions were frozen in time.  The entire office was decorated with streamers and the enthusiasm of the employees. Here’s looking forward to another fun day at Ajuba.

Monday, March 8th turned out to be a different sort of Monday; to begin with its the day marked as International Women’s Day and we at Ajuba had a small activity for the ladies of Ajuba. If you are wondering what we did, well its wasn’t much of what we did, but more of gathering women and celebrating their team spirit.

The participant was required to place a bindi on the tittle of the Sakthi logo while being blind-folded. Though only women employees could participate, the entire team joined in directing the participant to the target. The participants were not only blind-folded but they were also swirled to confuse their sense of direction. This increased the fun exponentially.

No activity is complete without its set of bloopers. One particular participant confused with the directions placed the bindi on the hosts forehead. Another team purposefully directed their participant in the direction bang opposite to the target, almost out the door. One of teams go into a deal with the participant that she shares the gift if she wins. And guess what that’s just what she did. The gift from the goody bag turned out to be nail enamel and the men of the team were not mighty happy about having their nails painted. One participant was showed her trust in her team members directions by walking straight into the target BANG!

So long till the next one.