Companies look at adding 'fun' to workplace

Firms like Never Grow Up help promote fun, happiness among employees

Employees at a financial services firm are not staring at a computer in front of them and endlessly typing e-mails. They are seen walking up to one another's cubicle and talking about everyday work and queries. If you thought that the employees' computers are under repair, you are wrong. It is a 'no-mail' day in office.

This initiative is part of a series of initiatives by employee engagement firm Never Grow Up that deals with keeping employees happy. Asif Upadhye, Chief Fun Officer of the company says, "We are a fun loving company dedicated to the pursuit of keeping employees & teams wilfully engaged in an attempt to create a strong employer brand while enhancing the culture of the workplace leaving employees happier."

The concept of employee engagement has been existent in the Indian workplace since a long time. However, companies are now tying up with specialist agencies to make the workplace more engaging for individuals. While human resource consultants also these services as a part of the deal with a client, companies are increasingly taking assistance of specialist services offered by firms like Never Grow Up.

Never Grow Up works with companies across sectors like media, retail, manufacturing and BFSI.

"Our products and services are customized to suit an organization as each company has its own set of requirements and a prevalent culture that keeps it going. We specialize in coming with ideas and ensuring we also execute those ideas so that people enjoy coming to work. Our scope of services would include anything that touches an employee’s life," said Upadhye.

The firm first spends time with the company and its particular team to understand what their needs are and then devise a plan that works for that particular set of people. The services that they offer range from workplace design that includes making meeting rooms more interesting and workplaces more fun to be in. It also includes quirky custom made merchandise either
resold through partners or built from scratch.

Never Grow Up has worked on a variety of long term projects addressing key areas like consulting decision makers to enhance organizational culture, communicating change, people management & motivation and building an emotional connect with company values to drive employee engagement. Upadhye further said that even companies in conventional sectors like manufacturing were ready to experiment with new ideas, for their employees.

For example, for a retail organization looking to build an engagement calendar, Never Grow Up partnered with their Human Resource team to execute a series of initiatives driven through communication, workshops, employee connect events, contests, off-sites, merchandise and even recommended changes to office design.

Human resource consultants said that companies are now looking at distinct ways to boost employee morale and engaging with specialist firms for this purpose. “For several of our clients, while we offer them human resource consulting, they also take assistance of specialist employee engagement firms for their needs. Going forward, we expect these firms to become a part of mainstream HR consulting,” said the chief executive of a New Delhi based human resource consulting firm.

However, the official added that employee engagement, in terms of promoting fun at workplace, has caught flavour with Indian firms, taking a cue from their foreign peers. He added that with stress levels on the rise in India Inc, it was necessary to have such creative efforts at workplace.