L&T strengthens leadership team at Mindtree, inducts senior executives

The new management of Mindtree is strengthening its leadership team by inducting senior executives from its parent, L&T Group companies, in critical roles like human resources (HR) and operations.

The Bengaluru-based company has appointed Paneesh Rao, the chief HR officer of L&T Technology Services, to head its HR functions. Sources in the know said the company is in the process of inducting another top executive from L&T Group as the chief operating officer. N S Parthasarathy, one of the cofounders of Mindtree, was earlier heading this function.

Last month, Mindtree appointed Cognizant executive Debashis Chatterjee as its chief executive officer (CEO) after the co-founders resigned from executive roles and the board.

Rao confirmed his move to Mindtree. “Mindtree has a solid foundation with leading industry practices and we need to take it to the next level of business objective. My role is going to be very challenging and I will make all efforts to keep people happy apart from making sure that people deliver to the company's objectives,” Rao told Business Standard.

He said the spurt in attrition seen in the first quarter of the current financial year was a result of initial anxiety among employees because of the change in ownership. “It has been over two months since the management has fully changed, and we are constantly in touch with our employees. Our CEO is travelling all through the world speaking to our employees. Most of the anxiety has subsided at this moment,” Rao added.

In the quarter ended June, Mindtree’s attrition stood at 15.1 per cent, compared to 12.2 per cent in the corresponding period last year.

Meanwhile, the senior management at Mindtree is holding regular town halls with employees at major centres of the company, while L&T’s top executives, including Group Chairman A M Naik and CEO S N Subrahmanyan, are meeting key clients of Mindtree in the US and European region.

Sources in the know said a tweak in the branding of Mindtree is also on the cards. “The company is considering tweaking the brand tagline ‘Mindtree-an L&T Group company’,” sources said.