Updated: Feb 3
As Never Grow Up turned 11 at the beginning of this year, we hopped onto the nostalgia train! We started out in 2010 with the objective of being a firm that enabled companies build a formidable work culture. But alas, we were ahead of time and it took us a lot of trial and error to reach the stature that we are at today! We’ve indeed come a long way from having a three-member team to over 70 employees now.
So, what did we do differently that put us ahead of most work culture firms? Let’s find out!
Paying Actual Attention
One of the things we pride ourselves on is the open platform we give our employees, to voice their thoughts, apprehensions, and opinions. Having employees freely share feedback, ideas, or a concern is a sign of a healthy work culture. With the option of staying anonymous while sharing feedback or highlighting a concern, one trusts the system to derive at a fair and just solution to the problem at hand. Moreover, it puts the faith of people into the management to be completely transparent in such instances.
Another mechanism we use to understand the pulse of the employees is Happyness Quotient, an innovative survey tool that provides real-time indication of certain workplace aspects, based on the analysis of employee surveys. Going one step further in paying attention to what our employees are saying and not saying, we even set up access to an in-house counselor. After all, paying attention to employee well-being is equally important.
Celebrating What Really Counts
India is a land of rich culture and heritage! And yet with so much diversity each one of us are born into, how much effort do we take to recognize all of it? When we choose to celebrate only a few major festivals at the workplace, we unknowingly are being discriminatory. It also minimizes the chance of feeling part of the work family. It’s understandable that not every religious occasion can be celebrated, which is why we took the conscious decision of not celebrating any festivals at work!
We at Never Grow Up do not celebrate holidays as an organization. Though everyone is free to individually do something special for an occasion if they like. Instead, we come together to celebrate birthdays, work anniversaries, rockstar of the quarter, project completion, pitch wins, team efforts and even a job well done! Since the past few years, we also observe one day in the year as “No Work Day” (in addition to our annual offsite). The occasion is marked with pure enjoyment, food, laughs, and games at the office, but no talk of work! Why? Because having literal fun at the workplace with your peers, boosts one’s interpersonal relationships, creativity and happiness levels. And isn’t happy employees the best kind of workforce?
Involving Employees In Policy Creation
Before work from home became a norm, we had an exclusive “WFH Policy” that allowed our employees to work remotely. The aim was to be more considerate of an employee’s situation that hinders them from traveling to office, but are still capable of being equally productive by working from home or remotely. And to understand the various situations one could encounter to avail this policy, we involved our very own team members to be part of this policy creation.
As the company grew over the years, this policy too evolved. Though it initially stated 10 days in a calendar year can be used to work from home, we later decided that there should not be a limit. That’s right, unlimited work from home days. But was this benefit misused? No! Simply because we trusted the team strongly enough to know that while the organization gave them the best, we also expect honesty in return.
Therefore, permitting our employees to work from home benefited us a great deal when the lockdown came into effect. Having the experience of working distantly but cohesively and virtually, kept productivity and efficiency levels stable. More than 10 months later, our team is still going strong virtually although we do miss the office space and the crazy chai-sutta breaks!
Rome wasn’t built in a day and the same is applicable to any business that strives to create a positive work culture. While the ingredients to the formula stay the same, the proportions depend entirely on what is best suited for your brand. It takes a lot of experimenting, patience and the will to pull through the turbulent times, in order to come out shining and successful. But once you get the formula right, there’s no stopping you from having the happiest and most passionate team of super employees!