3 Game-Changing Practices at Virtusa that are Transforming Employee Experience
About The Company
Virtusa Corporation is a global provider of digital business strategy, digital engineering, and information technology (IT) services and solutions that help clients change, disrupt, and unlock new value through innovative engineering. Virtusa serves Global 2000 companies in the banking, financial services, insurance, healthcare, communications, media, entertainment, travel, manufacturing, and technology industries.
- Employees Strength: 18,000+ India – based Employees
- Industry: Information Technology
- Indian HQ: Hyderabad
Great Place To Work Experience:
Engaging with Great Place To Work has provided us with invaluable insights into our workplace culture. The Trust Index™ Survey, a cornerstone of Great Place To Work’s methodology, offered a clear picture of how our employees perceive credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie within the organization.
Beyond internal insights, Great Place To Work facilitated our connection with a community of like-minded organizations. Through workshops, webinars, and summits, we gained exposure to best practices and innovative HR strategies from industry leaders. This exchange of ideas has been invaluable in shaping our approach to employee engagement and organizational development and has helped us build the workforce of the future.”
–Rahul Sahay, SVP and Offshore Geo HR Head at Virtusa
Virtusa has been partnering with Great Place To Work® India since 2022, conducting assessments for employees across geographies. In the very first year, Virtusa earned Great Place To Work certification in seven countries. A dedicated task force of delivery leaders was formed to drive action planning.
Virtusa’s commitment to upskilling, re-skilling, and fostering a culture of innovation ensured that employees were equipped to thrive in the changing economic landscape despite the prevailing macroeconomic challenges. In both year two and year three, Virtusa once again achieved the Great Place To Work certification in all assessed countries. Virtusa was also featured in various recognition lists like Best Workplaces UK 2024, Best Workplaces for Wellbeing in UK, Best Workplaces in Tech UK 2024, Best Workplaces in IT & IT-BPM 2024 (India) and Best Workplaces for Women in India 2024.
Unlocking potential at every touchpoint: Virtusa's PIRL framework for employee growth and engagement
Transforming strategy into action through active leadership
Virtusa’s exceptional people practices have driven remarkable impact, benefiting both individuals and the business. Highlighting three key programs below:
- Gamified virtual induction program
- Hackathon
- Mentoring program
1. Virtusa's Gamified Virtual Induction Program
Objective: To enhance onboarding effectiveness for new hires.
Challenge: The original virtual induction program lacked interactivity and effectiveness.
Solution: Implemented a tech-led, scalable approach with a self-paced, gamified, and immersive Meta-like environment.
Key Features:
- 3D interactive virtual induction: Creates a strong first impression
- Comprehensive coverage: Includes company values, culture, policies, processes, payroll, learning modules, and more
- Variety of learning tools: Videos, quizzes, simulations
- Self-paced learning: Saves time and resources, fully bespoke
- Enhanced engagement: Courses engage, retain critical information, and boost productivity and motivation
- Virtual rooms: Personalized and contextualized information for each module
- On-the-go access: Platform available anytime, anywhere
- Knowledge retention quizzes: Ensures understanding before progressing
- Reward points: Accrued for successful completion, fostering a positive learning experience
Impact: The NPS for new joiners’ induction increased significantly from 73% to 98%.
2. Virtusa's Hackathon Model
Objective: To provide a holistic learning experience through hands-on, real-life problem-solving.
Impact:
- Dynamic showcasing: Highlights team members’ talents, creativity, and dedication
- Platform for collaboration: Enables teams to ideate and develop innovative solutions
- Internal innovation: Spurs employee engagement and innovation within the company
- Top talent identification: Enables visibility and faster deployment
- Hands-on opportunity: Enables employees to create practical solutions by applying learned theory
- Expansion of ready-made ideas/solutions: Creates a repository of projects for further enhancements
The hackathon winners are rewarded with cash awards, certificates, badges, and structured learning opportunities.
3. Mentoring@Virtusa
Objective: To enable managers and leaders with the tools and techniques to don their
mentoring hats.
Challenge: The evolving nature of work with diverse and virtual teams led to a lack of meaningful conversations with team members. The one thing that cuts across today’s diverse workforce is the need to belong and know that someone cares for people’s growth and development. Virtusa has Home Managers and Work Managers mapped to every employee. Every Home Manager was expected to mentor team members, but there were bandwidth and know-how challenges.
Solution: A structured mentoring program to empower Leads and Home Managers to become certified mentors, fostering continuous learning and career growth for them and their team members.
Approach: A two-tiered mentoring learning pathway has been designed to cater to different experience levels while ensuring flexibility and real-world applicability:
Foundation level:
- Ideal for team members new to mentoring
- A self-paced learning program
- Introduces fundamental mentoring
- principles, best practices, and relationship-building strategies
Advanced level:
- For those seeking deeper mentoring expertise
- A blended learning approach combining virtual instructor-led sessions, case-based/ scenario-driven discussions
- Focuses on the mentoring challenges, including career transitions, leading teams, and leadership
Program features
- Flexible and scalable model that integrates seamlessly for global team members
- Focused development for Home Managers and Leads as certified mentors
- Continuous learning culture through structured mentoring engagements
- Business focus through enhancing team performance, engagement, and leadership pipeline
- Measurable outcomes through talent pipeline growth, engagement scores, and mentoring effectiveness
Intended outcomes
- Stronger talent pipeline– Proactive identification and grooming of future leaders
- Higher employee engagement and retention– Increased job satisfaction and reduced attrition
- Enhanced leadership and mentoring capabilities– Managers develop strong feedback and career guidance skills
- Structured and meaningful conversations– Encourages knowledge sharing, support, and innovation
- Greater business alignment– Ensures teams contribute effectively to business goals.
- Accelerated career growth for mentees– Team members receive structured guidance for professional advancement
- Culture of excellence and innovation– Reinforces Virtusa’s position as a learning-focused, innovation-driven organization
Impact metrics
Structured mentoring has been implemented on a large scale and has evolved into a strong and active mentoring community. This has also helped in creating future readiness.
- 1711 learners have completed Foundation Level Mentoring
- 235 learners have completed Advanced Level Mentoring
- Mentor’s experience
- 95% feel more confident after the program
- 93% have noticed an improvement in their mentees
- 95% of the Advanced Mentors are already engaged in mentoring
- 71% excellent and 29% good ratings for the mentoring program
Some of the areas where they have observed changes in mentees are:
- Open to discuss their issues, trust them to open up on things which they need to identify the root cause
- Participative and responsive, have started identifying what they are good at and started to learn new skills to fill gaps
- Improved communication, more accountability, and increased confidence
Mentee’s experience
- 70% of the mentees feel the overall mentoring journey has been excellent
- 87% of them mentioned that mentors have helped to set and achieve goals
- 63% feel they see significant improvement due to mentoring, and 33% feel some improvement
Some of the areas where mentoring has helped mentees, as shared by them:
Skill development, building confidence, guidance in decision-making and problem-solving, strategic advice, helping to connect dots and understand the big picture.
Role-readiness through skill cluster-based learning
While Virtusa is focusing on maximizing human potential, they realize that targeted growth and development will likely create the desired impact.
In keeping with this, they have introduced skill-cluster-based learning and certifications. This ensures that every employee is on the path to becoming role-ready. Default learning plans are assigned based on the primary skill cluster and career level.
Virtusa employees are assigned to a primary Skill Cluster that defines their core competencies and guides their career progression. The Skill Cluster represents a specialized set of skills integral to an employee’s role, and these competencies serve as the foundation for all learning and development initiatives. Specific proficiency targets are set for each skill within the cluster based on the employee’s current career level. The proficiency at each career tier is clearly defined, enabling employees to understand the skills they need to acquire to advance further. Personalized learning paths are created to help employees close their skill gaps. These paths are designed to be practical and directly relevant to the employee’s current and future roles.
Upon completing a learning path, employees are evaluated and assigned to the next level of learning, ensuring continuous growth and development.
This tiered approach keeps employees on track for career progression while maintaining alignment with organizational goals.
“At Virtusa, we believe that when our people thrive, our business thrives. That’s why we’re committed to creating an environment where every Virtusan has the opportunity to grow, learn, and reach their full potential. From our gamified induction program that makes onboarding more engaging, hackathons that spark creativity and innovation, and mentoring programs that help our people navigate their careers, we’re always looking for new ways to support and empower our teams. But programs alone don’t drive success—it’s our leaders who bring them to life every day by guiding, inspiring, and supporting their teams.
We’re also focused on the future, ensuring that every Virtusan is continuously learning and developing through personalized skill-building programs and certifications. Our goal is simple: to equip our people with the tools, experiences, and opportunities they need to succeed—not just in their roles today but in their long-term careers. At the heart of it all, it’s about creating a workplace where people feel valued, challenged, and excited about what’s next. Great Place to Work ® has played a pivotal role in helping us understand the pulse of our employees and bring right changes.”
Author
Mamta Jashnani, Great Place To Work India
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