WorkOliday! LogiNext cracked the millennial code in scenic Goa!
– By Kenneth W Wheeler, VP, Human Resources and L&D
People, the most critical asset and powerful component of every organization. A definitive force that acts as a key differentiator between a good versus a great organization.
When you think about a great organization, what do you imagine? A place…
- where a lot of rewarding and fulfilling work is done every day,
- where people feel eager to partake in various activities for fun and learning (even at the same time if possible),
- where people enjoy a healthy life balance, where their work impacts a positive and lasting impact on the world and clients alike,
- where their efforts are celebrated and their talent is channelized to achieve more than what they believed could be possibly achieved by them.
It’s a nice snapshot of the basic requirements of the workplace. When you put millennials in the picture, the list expands, but only a little. Even before getting into that, should you be concerned about millennials in the workplace?
With 70% workforce headed to be captured by millennials by 2025, we already see a sea of change in how things are different at workplace today – forming an interesting case study of successfully challenging the traditional status quo of defined and restricted corporate work guidelines.
Is it really about work-life balance for millennials?
There’s more to work-life balance when it comes to millennials. There work, life, goals, entertainment, learning, ambition, and a overall sense of belonging. They want to make their mark and they want to feel that they are making it. Self-actualization is more pronounced, much more than it was before. They want their workplace to progressively engage them in mutual development. That’s why the ‘vibe’ of the place is suddenly as a factor.
The transformed work environment has raised the challenge for HR. They need to forge a stronger partnership with employees to drive home the advantage of energy, commitment, and loyalty. How can this be done?
You’ll need the Three Power Keys, or Three Power E’s, if you may.
- Empowerment
- Engagement
- Experience
How we hit the right notes while making work a rewarding and fun experience
LogiNext is a fast-scaling logistics tech company, constantly put across as one of the fastest growing in the world. How do we sustain this? With exciting, talented, engaged, enterprising, and ambitious teams. Even as we have become the standard bearer for top tech in the industries, the average age at our workplace is around 30. We have some highly battle-hardened and experienced individuals in our ranks who are ably backed by young, super-intelligent, and driven folks.
Even though we set the pace with our high growth, it’s sometimes a task to match up to the individual growth speeds of our workforce. They are the finest set of millennials. That’s why we came up with a novel concept to make their work and their life an experience like never before.
We let loose the WorkOliday!
What’s the workOliday, you ask? It’s simple. Imagine working from the most scenic and relaxed environments, totally steeped in comfort and nature. And imagine doing all that at work-time. Ever felt a yearning while looking out of the office window that you wish could sit out there in the garden to work on a bright wonderful day?
We made that a reality. That’s what a workOliday is. A perfect combination of work, entertainment, vacation, fun, relaxation, learning, achievements, and more.
We took our India team to the beautiful shores of Goa. We set them in the pristine resort with old-Portugal style architecture. They were beyond the ‘corporate’ boundaries, letting out waves of creativity, energy, passion, and drive. We achieved more than 130% on what we would have achieved if we hadn’t left our office space.
Did it really work? You bet!
We had a resounding yes when we asked whether we should be doing this more often. According to one lead developer, “The workOliday has been one of the highlights of my personal life this year. My Instagram is now filled with pics showing me working and coding on clear beaches”.
Another product manager pointed out, “I have been tagged so much on social media. It’s an amazing way for a shared experience with all my colleagues. I have made so many new bonds that am I sure is gonna last for a long time”.
One senior vice-president called out the value of the workOliday, “The ease with which everyone was collaborating with their work was astounding. Gone were the inhibitions and restrictions. Everyone was working on the same wavelength. Yes, for me the concept was an instant hit”.
Why did it work? Let’s go back to our Three Power E’s!
If you want to recreate the same or looking to learn from our experience, this part is where your attention should be sharp, if it hasn’t piqued already, which is doubtful.
Employee Empowerment
At LogiNext, we thrive on Technology and Innovation, which is why we are continuously winning the hearts of our clients at a Global platform. This success is governed by our belief that the right blend of People and Technology partnership is what steers our business ambition forward. LogiNext endeavors to give its people responsibilities to solve problems and empowers them with required authority to act and deliver on it.
“You know, as most entrepreneurs do, that a company is only as good as its people. The hard part is actually building the team that will embody your company culture and propels you forward.” ~Kathryn Minshew, The Muse
LogiNext is mindful of looking out for opportunities that contribute to building a culture of employee empowerment. In our first edition of workOliday, we ensured to leverage this powerful tool and empower our employees to own what they do, when they do it and how they do it.
- Event was independently planned and executed by voluntarily identified employees, that formed the event core team
- Budget was allotted, and the core team was empowered to plan the complete logistics of how they travel, where they stay and every other detail in between
- Function heads were empowered to decide their work project/s to be accomplished during the workOliday backed by impact and numbers
- Core team also decided events on team bonding and other meaningful fun activities
Was business output achieved as a measure of employee empowerment noteworthy?
- Power packed LogiNext Talk AKA own TED Ex rollout
- Learnings from tough sales stories across BD team members
- Roel play of Product Demo session and best practice sharing
- Release of new Product features
- Gamification approach to mixing cross-functional teams in Tech vertical to work on a pre-defined problem statement
- Measuring and mapping both client and employee NPS
- Product meeting with a fun flavor of Quiz format
- Making quality recruitment calls and doing interviews too from Goa
- Impact-driven Townhall session from the CEO
Employee Engagement
LogiNext over the years has been proactive in ensuring that employee engagement is a thought-out program that blends fun with learning. We have now made this approach our DNA, with successful past events programmed on the concept of design thinking – workOliday only helped us raise our own bar and the series of well-planned engagement events did complete justice to keep that DNA alive and thriving to its fullest.
“To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace” – Doug Conant
What were these employee engagement activities?
- Yoga, Zumba, jogging, and volleyball – all magnificently performed on the shores of the beautiful and serene beaches as LogiNext welcomed the sunrise together as a team
- Karaoke competition that got everyone singing and shouting their lungs out with joy and excitement – who won was irrelevant really
- Salsa dance competition that was mesmerizing and cheerful
- A night of DJ that witnessed every soul let loose and set their hearts on fire – awesome to witness so many ‘happy feets’
- Pool competition – hold your breath underwater
In all, the evenings at Goa where full on energy, rich team bonding, just getting to know one another in an out of work context, where everyone ate together and partied together, thus forming a very rewarding employee engagement journey – one that will rest in our memories forever.
Employee Experience
At LogiNext, it is all about defining time spent at work as not just a routine journey but as an enriching Experience.
LogiNext embodies the essence that while our seamless software will deliver customer satisfaction and define our Brand recognition, it will be our employees who deliver that rich taste of experience every time the client uses LogiNext’s products. Keeping this fact and faith alive, as a company, we are also aware that more than ever before, today workplaces are a close extension and convolution of work and personal life, courtesy digitization.
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” – Maya Angelou
Thus, introducing concepts like workOliday ensure that we touch employee experience in a bold and lasting way.
Few key takeaways from this fruitful experience for LogiNext employee were as:
- We established and even stronger team bonding, something that was clearly visible throughout the event
- New friendships were forged across departments which otherwise for few was restricted to not more than a courtesy greeting at times
- Team spirit soared higher than ever before
- LogiNext further strengthened its positive equation with its employees as its active internal brand evangelists
A great successful event, one that resonated well with every LogiNexter.
We made a profound impact with what we achieved from a business perspective and balanced it with memorable team events, fun, laughter and most importantly – Togetherness!
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@LogiNext