Which IT services company pioneered the 'Employees First' corporate philosophy?

HCL Technologies pioneered the “Employees First” corporate philosophy, formally expressed as “Employees First, Customers Second.”

The approach became closely associated with Vineet Nayar, who served as HCL Technologies’ chief executive from 2007 to 2013. Rather than treating employees as a support function beneath management, Nayar argued that frontline staff create the value customers experience. Management’s job was therefore to enable employees by removing obstacles, improving transparency, and providing support.

HCL promoted the idea through tools such as employee-led problem solving, internal transparency, and systems that allowed workers to evaluate managers. The philosophy was later documented in Nayar’s 2010 book, Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down.

The wording can cause confusion because Nayar was the principal public advocate and architect of the management program, while HCL Technologies was the company that implemented it. TCS, Infosys, and Wipro are major Indian IT-services firms, but the named philosophy is canonically linked to HCL.