"I have not found a reason to look out for another job," says Anjali S. Jorapur, project manager, who h as spent nine years with PSI Data Systems. "The environment has stayed the same; it's a friendly, open, no-hierarchy company". People like Jorapur are tough to find in the IT industry, where job hopping is a common phenomenon.

But the fact that PSI Data Systems is a Great Place to Work proves that financial rewards are not the only reasons why employees stick to a place. As CEO Sanjeev Aga says, "When people go through difficult times together, they share a special bond. And if people have been partners and not just witnesses over a period of time, it creates a feeling that is a little special."

Sure enough, the employees have seen a lot of change. The company was set up in 1976 by Indian entrepreneurs. Later, Groupe Bull of France entered as a majority shareholder. Over the past eight years the company changed its entire line of business - from a hardware company to a software services firm. Then, in 2001, Groupe Bull, which was also its largest customer, walked out, taking a third of its business. Soon after, it got merged with the A.V. Birla Group, a $6-billion corporation with 72,000 employees...

PSI Data Systems celebrates each and every festival, be it Valentine's Day, Diwali, or even the Kannada Rajyotsava. It organizes regular health camps inviting leading dieticians in the country. A six-member HR team is all that it takes to look after a 500-strong workforce. Most processes like applying for leave, monitoring attendance and other routine things have been automated. The head of HR, Paneesh Rao, who prefers to call himself chief people officer, says: "I don't like the term human resources, and employees are not resources that you have to maximize."