Betti breathes life into workplace

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Betti Setiastuti Alisjahbana was raised to be able to do everything herself.

At a young age she took sewing lessons until she could take orders and her mother taught her to cook. Betti also took deportment lessons as well as English language lessons, and her parents encouraged her to take part in various school and campus organizations.

"You never know what kind of husband you will have, so to be on the safe side you must be able to do many things yourself," the president of PT IBM Indonesia said quoting her mother in an interview recently.

These early skills prepared her for various situations and taught her how to effectively manage her time, a lesson more valuable now that she must juggle numerous engagements in her role as the head of a multinational company.

The principles that she keeps also reflect the upbringing of this 43-year-old petite woman; to do much and complain little, to 'do unto others ...', and to share her knowledge whenever she can.

Betti's participation as a juror for the Bung Hatta Anticorruption Award recently is just one example of how she applies these principles in her everyday life.

"Can it eradicate corruption? No, but it is a step in that direction," she said, explaining that rather than complain about corruption in the country, her choice is to do whatever she can, no matter how small.

"Start with yourself by not getting involved in corruptive practices, and after that try to influence your immediate environment," Betti explained her methods.

And as the head of a company her influence is far reaching indeed. A code of conduct guides each employee at IBM, and a strict control mechanism makes sure that the code is adhered to.

Whether in sales or procurement, the code ensures that services or products are bought or sold based on their merits and not on favoritism or bribes.

"A business conduct guideline is not only to find out who is corrupt and who isn't, but it is a complete code on how to do business, avoid corruption and how to quickly manage corruption when it happens," Betti, who loves to design her own clothes, said.

Satisfaction and pride in one's work were also important to discourage employees from resorting to corruptive practices. And after 19 years in the company she knows what makes employees happy.

"We can't blame people for not being loyal to a company when the company doesn't provide that person's basic necessities," she said, explaining that companies can no longer expect long term loyalty from their employees unless they can provide long-term benefits for the employees.

"People now feel that they have to be loyal to themselves, to always be competitive, to always keep up to date with all developments and changes," Betti said.

Four main reasons for employee dissatisfaction according to Betti are: Lack of new challenges, lack of new knowledge, a salary not commensurate with the work and a nonconducive working atmosphere.

"A company is obligated to create a conducive, healthy, working atmosphere, give its employees ample opportunity to develop both career and knowledge, and also give a competitive commission based on their accomplishments," Betti explained, adding that in return the employee was obligated to give his or her best to the company.

Employee' motivation was another thing that Betti said was important for the wellbeing of a company. The first step of which the company must have a reasonable objective which can be translated in the job description of each individual employee in the company.

"The simplest example is the operator here at IBM. She can consider herself just a telephone operator, or as someone who creates the first impression of IBM. Which will generate a different effect on her job. The overall objective is of course to achieve customer satisfaction," she explained.

Generating employee motivation can be as simple as celebrating each milestone toward a common goal to being transparent about rewards and punishment.

"If we work in an environment where it is all the same whether we do well or badly or just so-so, that will not motivate us to do better," Betti asserted.

For her, so far IBM has given her everything she wished for. Betti said that the company has never let her be stuck with one job for long, always challenging her and broadening her horizons. From her start as a marketing trainee in 1984 she has risen to various positions both locally and internationally.

Betti said she was grateful that her husband, publisher Mario Alisjahbana, was more than willing to share the burden of their household so that she could pursue her career uninterrupted. The couple, who married in 1985, is blessed with a son, Aslan (16 years old), and a daughter, Nadia (11 years old).

But Betti also realizes that not all women are as fortunate, and that many leave a promising career due to household and family demands.

At IBM, she tries to reduce these limiting factors to a woman's career by giving the option of two years unpaid leave for high performing employees and the opportunity for them to work from home.

"This proves very helpful for mothers who have to take care of their sick children for example, they can still do their job, just not from the office," Betti said.

The row of lockers at IBM Indonesia's office at Landmark Center, Central Jakarta, are testimony to how mobile her employees are.

"We have no cubicles here, everyone sits at whatever desk is empty and stores their papers and documents in a locker when they go out," IBM's communication specialist Ariantini Yatim said.

Betti has also taught her managers to never take it for granted that women are reluctant to do "difficult" jobs such as taking out-of-town or international positions.

"He may think he's doing the woman a favor, but he is in fact obstructing her from furthering her career. They should never make the assumption that women don't want difficult jobs".

Betti then tries to increase the participation of women in information technology, not by lowering her standards, but rather by intervening at high school level.

"We have at IBM a program called Excite where high school girls can participate in a technology camp and where we introduce them to a career in technology," Betti said.

Ultimately what is important for Betti is for her to stay true to her principles, to give and do whatever she can for those around her.