NEW DELHI, India — In a bid to better connect with their employees and keep them engaged at work, Amazon India and Infosys are streaming in-house internet radio to their facilities in India. The streams feature a mix of popular music and employee song requests, employee interviews, contests, and company information.
Amazon India is delivering 10 24/7 audio streams — two sets of five — to its 200-plus mix of delivery stations, fulfillment centers, and sorting centers. Each audio stream has its own music programming policy, which is shaped by the employee demographics that the stream is being produced for. Each channel in the five stream pack is voiced in a specific language spoken by Amazon India’s employees; namely Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, and Telugu.
“We have a set of five streams for fulfillment centers and sort centers and another unique set of five streams for the delivery stations,” an Amazon India spokesperson told the Economic Times newspaper. “This is because the nature of work by the associates in a delivery station is very different and hence the program design for this audience is very different.”
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An Amazon spokesperson told RWI on background that the company uses a lot of channels to communicate and interact with its employees, and is always experimenting with new ways to connect and engage. The spokesperson added that employees at Amazon India’s operations enjoy the audio streams, and are using them to listen to music and hear news about Amazon’s various operations.
Bangalore-based IT services provider Infosys has been providing “InfyRadio” to its Indian employees since 2011; along with a company-focused Facebook-style site called “Infosys Bubble.” InfyRadio operates six-hour music blocks, five days a week, in Hindi and English.
“HR sources at Infosys said ‘it was important for the management to use innovative means of communication that employees relate to as well as enjoy,’” reported The Hindu Business Line website in 2011 when both services were launched. “Infy Radio (sic) was born as a result of this need for communication and employee engagement.”
In recent months, Infosys has rebuilt the InfyRadio website to make it more user friendly. The site also offers additional features such as archives, playlists, and expanded information about InfyRadio’s shows and hosts.
“We realized (that) to appeal to the Infoscions (the technology workers), we had to communicate with them in a medium that would hold universal appeal,” said Infosys executive vice-president Richard Lobo. “Our experience of using radio as a communication and fun medium at the workplace has been encouraging.”
