Saransh Garg, CEO & Co-Founder, Nova Benefits on revolutionizing employee wellness, and how employers can challenge stereotypes.
In a hybrid era, perfecting work-life balance is key to corporate survival!!
2021 has been a turbulent and testing time for organizations and employees alike, with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis hitting companies differently. The need of the hour is work-life balance, and it is crucial for organisations to understand employee pain points.
Reports reveal a tectonic shift in the approach to employee wellness. There’s no doubt anymore that employee delight and overall company performance are closely interdependent and gravely impact work-life stability. Workforces, particularly those driven by Millennials and Gen Z, staunchly expect businesses to value their time, well-being, and intellectual fitness.
There are several simple methods to support employees to maintain a healthy work-life balance – all you need is willingness! Let’s take a look:
Keeping your ear to the ground: Providing counseling and physical health support to employees free of cost
Both mental and physical health have been greatly impacted during the pandemic. Apart from offering employees the required support through counseling and health check-ups, it is important to create awareness on where employees can access these services. Employees should be encouraged to share how they are feeling, and feel safe to do so. It is important for organisations to listen and react. A central contact point should be created for employees, where they can expect quick responses to questions and concerns. Employers must also partner with online counseling services to help people with their mental health, and interpersonal relationships.
Inclusivity 24×7: Having an open-door policy, regular check-ins, and anonymous reviews within the workplace
Clear and open communication channels are key to creating a healthy workplace environment, which uplifts employee morale. In traditional organizations, communication is a one-way stream that flows from top-down, making employees feel like they don’t have a voice. Engaging in open and honest conversations with employees can make them feel comfortable, and encourage them to address and speak about issues at work. There are simple ways to implement this using a feedback structure and regular reviews where everyone can present their opinion with the option of staying anonymous.
Empathy always wins! Social and Community Outreach Programs
Every organisation has several stakeholders who form a part of the larger community and workspace ecosystem. Building and maintaining a mutually beneficial relationship with the community is what defines ‘Community Relations’. The start point for ‘Community Relations’ is to identify the needs and pain points of the community, and offer solutions to address the same. Community outreach programs like fundraising, setting up vaccination camps for employees and their families, offering tiffin or creche services may contribute to happier and satisfied employees, boost employee morale, and foster a sense of “community” that is critical to long-term success and employee retention.
Fostering wellness: Digital partnerships for employee well-being
Employee wellness initiatives are a much-needed component to create a good and healthy work culture. Wellness is a balance of both mental and physical well-being. To address the same, companies can look at organising group activities like online workout sessions or virtual marathons which will help in employee engagement and keeping staff motivated. To ensure mental wellness, it is a great idea for organisations to avail corporate memberships with wellness apps, which offer a full range of services.
Be resourceful: Get your employees the mental, physical and structural resources they need
During the first and second waves of the pandemic, isolation and burnout were reportedly two of the most popular employee issues discovered. Isolation was comprehensible, but ‘employee burnout’ posed brand new challenges, creating barriers in personal and professional lives.
Mental health assistance, along with new methods to develop organizational frameworks for a post-pandemic future. For instance, it’s mandatory to take a two-day break once every 45 days at Nova Benefits – this ensures that employees are getting the rest they deserve. Organisations also need to identify what employees might need – infrastructure, flexibility, professional help to deal with stress, anxiety, burnout, or lack of sleep – in order to do their jobs to the best of their abilities, with limited resources in a WFH set up.
At Nova Benefits, we offer an unlimited leave policy, which also includes wellness leaves. Employees can take time off for their physical and mental health, and are also encouraged to express if and when they are feeling burnt out.
We also advise our employees to try and clock in seven to eight hours of sleep every day. Keeping the current WFH scenario in place, our team strives to keep the workforce healthy and active, while at home.
Feedback is fab! Make wellness surveys and feedback regular routine
A feedback review isn’t always only for managers to give personalized feedback; it’s also an opportunity to examine employers, workplace culture, and leadership. Timely surveys demonstrate to workers that employers care for them, in addition to enabling the employer to enhance and elevate successful well-being benefits in the future.
Conclusion
The above cultural and process-driven changes aren’t complex but must be prioritized to ensure an organization’s rapid growth. Companies who have their work culture right, can see higher financial returns and outperform their rivals. How else are “Best Places to work at” built?
An organization’s organizational structure is the relationship between different roles within the company. In the structure, you can see how the roles are interconnected and what level of responsibility each role entails. In addition, it reveals the organization’s hierarchy of roles. Your small business’s structure can help you stay organized during the start-up phase and beyond by helping you visualize it.
A great business idea and a great team are at your disposal. Your company is growing, and it’s time to put some structures in place to help you keep track of everything. If you want your startup to succeed, you need a more innovative organizational structure that can adapt.
An organizational structure is a visual representation of what employees do, who they report to, and how business decisions are made. It is possible to create organizational structures that are tailored to the needs of specific businesses and industries based on functions, markets, products, geographies, or processes. It’s also important to be aware of any potential stumbling blocks before you begin to scale.
Transparency, traceability, and repeatability of work must be ensured. Work must be delegated and owned. If something goes wrong, you need to know who’s responsible and what went wrong, as well as how to fix the problem. Process management is the most common tool used by most organizations. When it comes to information flow as well as the interaction between business and human worker processes, work management is a set of software products and services that apply workflow structure.
You can transform and streamline critical business processes with the help of good work culture and better work management.
Assembling Your System
Small businesses often have a very simple structure when they first start up and for a long time afterward, as well. As a small business, you don’t have to deal with the complex structural decisions that large corporations have to make.
You are likely the owner and manager of your company, with employees reporting to you. With one or more partners, the top of the pyramid could be made up of all the partners (including you), then managers (including you), and finally employees.
Roles in the Evolution
When starting a new business, the owner often finds that he can’t effectively handle all of the managerial responsibilities. Financial and marketing managers will be replaced by hard-working employees.
Owners and managers can focus on larger goals by delegating managerial responsibilities. Over time, employees become more skilled and knowledgeable in their respective roles, increasing the efficiency of the company as a whole.
Focus on your core competencies
Organizational Structure to focus on your core competencies
Make sure you focus on your core competencies and outsource the rest of your work. In the past, organizations have diverted large amounts of money from core products to servers, software development, platforms, and hardware. These days, it’s very likely that you can outsource these tasks and get better results than if you did them yourself.
Core competencies are the resources and capabilities that comprise the strategic advantages of a business. A modern management theory argues that a business must define, cultivate, and exploit its core competencies in order to succeed against the competition.
Team Organization
Organizational Structure for growing startup team
Software companies tend to use Agile. Whatever you choose, make sure that team management is in place, with the necessary structure, processes, and tools. Teams are almost non-existent in early startups, but they quickly become essential for basic functionality such as transparency, role and responsibility delegation, and asset management. The following are some of the benefits of working with a team: This approach to leadership views a team as an organisational group made up of individuals who work together to accomplish goals. A team is made up of individuals who are interdependent, work towards interchangeable goals, and share common goals. An entire team works together to accomplish a goal.
For organizations, Holacracy divides the structure into nested circles. For example, in a holacracy, members of an organization or team work together to accomplish tasks and achieve company goals in separate, autonomous teams. Hierarchy in the workplace is replaced by a flat organizational structure that gives each employee a say in the company’s direction. Because it is so well-structured, there is very little room for ambiguity about who is responsible for what in this system.
Because people are not hired solely for a specific job, they can take on one or more roles at any given time, and they have the flexibility to move between teams and roles if they have skills or insights that the organisation could benefit from at any given time.
This replaces the autocratic power usually exercised by company owners.
Sociocracy 3.0
It is based on seven guiding principles that help to shape the culture of organizations. Considering that all of Sociocracy 3.0’s patterns incorporate the seven principles, understanding them is essential to adopting and adapting the patterns. Use your time wisely by focusing on activities that will help you achieve your goals.
Use the principle of effectiveness to spend your time only on activities that will help you reach your goals.
Invoke the principle of consent when making decisions or taking actions.
All assumptions should be tested through experiments and revisions.
The principle of continuous improvement is to make incremental changes to accommodate empirical learning over a long period of time.
Unless there is a reason for confidentiality, all information that is valuable to the organization should be recorded and made available to everyone.
In order to be accountable, one must respond when something is needed, follow through on what they agreed to do, and take responsibility for the organization’s success.
Command and Control
To delegate tasks and approve work, you must have a chain of command (or command structure). If you have an org structure, you can specify how many “rungs of the ladder” a certain department or business line should have.
Almost all companies have a hierarchy in place that identifies which individuals are responsible for which people, teams, or departments within the company. The chain of command allows each employee to know who is in charge of them and what their responsibilities are.
Centralization
The term centralization refers to the final decision-making location. Your chain of command will need to be set up after that, and you’ll need to decide who has a say in each decision. Unified or decentralized decision-making is possible in a business.
If you don’t have an organizational chart right away, it will become increasingly difficult to run your company without it as you add more products and hire more employees.
This was a list of some approaches to organizational structure in an organization. You can also create your own organizational structure which you think fits your company the best. It’s time for your startup to adopt a more innovative organizational structure that forces everyone to think.
FAQs
How do you structure a startup?
Here are the things to consider while structuring a startup:
Defining and establishing the leadership
Architecting the structure
Building your team
Bring in the professionals
Communicate with the board members
What is a legal structure?
An organization’s legal structure is a key determinative of the activities that a company or a startup can undertake. It Includes:
Raising capital
Responsibility for obligations of the business
Amount of taxes that the organization owes to tax agencies
Work culture is a basic requirement to sustain and progress in a company. Companies like Google and Tesla are known for their “Chill” work environment, where the employee’s mental health is given a priority. Many office settings are choosing an informal environment for better productivity. The results are assertive.
While most companies are trying unconventional methods to make office hours to be less intimidating, Byju’s, India’s largest EdTech unicorn is caught up in a row for having the worst work culture. Employees who have quit have allegedly accused Byju’s for having a horrible work environment.
July 13, 2021- Byju’s joins hands with Disney and launched a learning App featuring Disney-based character for the U.S. market.
February 8, 2021- ICC announced Byju’s as a global partner until 2023. The EdTech giant will partner the forthcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in India and the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand.
Byju’s – About The Company
The EdTech market in India has become an eye candy for Venture Capitalists. Many investors abroad since India is showing a substantial growth graph propelling upwards and gaining grounds abroad. India’s largest EdTech company turned unicorn, the brain child of Byju Ravindran, Byju’s is at lightning speed with significant takeovers and increasing on demand education material from parents all over the country.
Byju’s is said to have plans to acquire the rival EdTech company Toppr for $150 million. The Mumbai-based Toppr provides e-learning materials to grades 5-12.
The gigantic empire built by Founder & CEO Byju’s Ravindran is almost like a rags to riches titled tale. Passionate about revolutionizing the education system, Byju’s was brought to life in 2015. It all seems roses and rainbows as a bystander, while the company is being called out for being down right shady and unethical as an ongoing concern.
Byju’s found itself in headlines, when various telephone recordings by their ex employees were leaked in public. Many such instances followed suit and now the company stands accused of having the worst work culture.
Byju’s – Work Culture
The entire scenario came to light when a telephonic conversation between a salesperson and their manager was leaked on YouTube. The conversation reveals a lot about the abusive work culture at Byju’s. The manager was furious at the salesperson for not meeting the sales target and held him at the edge for not complying to company protocols.
Several reviews on various job portals point towards a bad and unsustainable work life at Byju’s. Employees who have quit Byju’s have shed some light over how the EdTech company is entirely focused on generating revenues.
Byju’s offers a handsome amount of 10 lac per annum package for entry level joiners who enter the organization as Business Development Associates (BDA). However, ex employees have shown utter dismay stating that the figure quoted to them during the interview was a faux figure and the actual remuneration is below expectations. BDAs seem to be the most disappointed across all the departments in the company.
Other reviews suggest that the company is fast paced and expects prompt delivery from its employees. People have fewer complaints as we climb higher in the organizational structure. If we were to combine all the feedback, the average answer would be that the BDAs are under harsh scrutiny and the work environment is nothing less than toxic.
BDAs are required to put in 12 to 14 hours and have call timings of minimum 2 hours per client. The leaked conversations hint at a grueling schedule and a tight leash around the BDAs. Ex employees have accused the company of being inhuman in terms of workload and abusive in terms of interactions.
The company lacks an ethical HR structure to cater to the issues raised by employees. With abusive managers and excess unpaid clocked time, employees have quit in a span of just two to three months of joining. Parents who were conned into buying these courses say that the salespersons were aggressive and called incessantly.
Byju’s subsidiary, WhiteHatJr recently filed a defamation case in the Delhi High Court against Pradeep Poonia. Poonia is a software developer who was alleged to hurt the public image of the company. Let’s find out, what the case is all about.
Pradeep Poonia has been raging a war against the EdTech giant after WhiteHatJr refused to take constructive criticism and took down Poonia’s several social media accounts. Poonia became increasingly suspicious with an advertisement which claimed that Google hired a six year old, named Wolf Gupta for 1.4 billion after he learnt coding from WhiteHatJr.
With comprehensive searches across Google, no such person with that name was found. Poonia went on further to find that the reviews on Google Play for WhiteHatJr were forged. The app has a 5 star rating on Google Play store. He has also stated that Byju’s has been mirroring the actions of its subsidiary from several years.
Poonia has been targeted ever since he has called out WhiteHatJr and Byju’s for their shady business. Two YouTube accounts, three articles published on LinkedIn, Two Reddit accounts and several links on Quora in the name of Poonia have been taken down so far. His other social media handles have also been suspended for calling out the EdTech giants.
When asked, Poonia stated that these companies are nothing but a scam and have lost its primary focus than its education. He is discontented because the companies are charging a fortune for the material provided which seems pretty basic and is available for free on the internet. Every course on Byju’s and WhiteHatJr costs about $250 dollars on average.
The testimonials by parents who did not approve of the products have also been taken down. Many refund requests are still pending on Byju’s customer care portal. Byju’s recently valued at $11.1 billion after a fundraising round. The company, owned by veteran investors is now rushing to generate revenues and this reflects the behavior on managerial levels who are churning out numbers through the BDAs.
Conclusion
The pandemic has hoarded us towards the screen oriented culture, be it for work or education. Kids are already anxious and unsettled because of long term confinement at home. The online education system is proving to be a good option in the dearth. But EdTech is taking away the normal from a kid’s life and pushing it towards a stunted form of learning.
EdTech companies are pushing their sales aggressively as schools are about to reopen soon. Parents are giving in to frivolous offers by these companies and paying more than what they would pay for a traditional education.
As we discover the underlying mottos of EdTech companies, revenues seem to be the ultimate motive and passion to educate seems to drift off the horizon. In such scenarios, parents who wish to educate their kids must learn to distinguish between a genuine opportunity for their kids to gain knowledge (which could cost a lot less) and a platform with fancy fee structure providing nothing exclusive.
FAQs
What is the valuation of Byju’s?
The company was valued at US$12 billion as of November 2020.
Crimes against women has been a worrying scenario all over the world. As we celebrate the International Women’s Day, women’s safety and integrity is an agenda on the portfolios of many campaigns. Amongst others, a corporate setting too can be a place for foul play with women.
Sexual harassment or sexism at workplace has been a key concern amongst women employees. Every company is implied to set up a committee to readdress the same.
How deep does this problem run in organisations? is the committee really effective in addressing this issue? Have they ever faced it themselves? We find the answers to these questions as we speak to the women in the industry.
Dr. Shikha Baghi Bhandari – CEO & Owner, Timeless Aesthetics
Dr. Shikha Baghi Bhandari – CEO & Owner, Timeless Aesthetics
Sexism is everywhere and of course I have faced it in my career early on where people were not even subtle about their prejudices. Blatant disregard of my education and skills despite me being a specialist in my field, were simply demoralizing.
To combat that, I excelled in my field and proved to people that I am the best. It may sound sad or unfair that men do not necessarily have to prove their skill like women, but to change people’s views, one must unequivocally become the best in whatever they do.
I am glad to say that I have risen to the challenge and made a name for myself. Now it’s time to inspire the youths and my peers. That is why I am expanding my operations by opening clinics in many cities. This will create opportunity for many who don’t have to worry about roadblocks like sexism or pay gaps.
Hardwork requires more than heart, one must be tough enough to face life’s challenges. Women must work hard to reach certain heights where they get to make the rules. Once that is accomplished, sexism will be eradicated from it’s root.
The most important thing to remember is to not repeat what men have been doing. Our priority has to be equality across the board.
To those who are feeling down, I say this, “Never lose focus and prove them wrong, because you can”.
Unfortunately, but thankfully, I’ve had only one experience wherein a certain client tried to undermine my ability to run my practice based on my gender. That’s when I decided it’s best to cut ties with a client who was more focused on my gender than my work quality. Sadly, I know of several independent women who run successful businesses who have been victims of similar instances.
This is why it’s important that women set the right expectations from the very beginning. It’s also important that women through their demeanour and conduct demand to be treated equally and rightfully. One can be polite yet assertive while putting a point across and these small measures can have a huge impact in the way a team or a client would approach you.
However, for this, it’s also important to adopt a professional conduct while interacting with team-members and clients. This could be in the smallest sense – avoid conversations post a certain hour (unless absolutely necessary), avoid conversations that disclose private matters, be mind of email etiquette; body language; tonality, dressing in a certain way, etc.
Unfortunately, one to many times. Being in the industry I am, its shameful to say that its very common. People are more responsive when it’s a girl on the opposite call, rather than when it’s a man.
Even if the man is a Rockstar in sales, the girl has more chances of getting through because of the notion that has become the untold truth that sexism sells.
As I said, we do everything we can to promote gender equality, and infact we have more male BD’s than female, and we also send our female employee to the production site, so not only they understand what’s happening, but also they become stronger as a person when they are in the field.
Although I was running an organisation, during the initial few days I have experienced sexism. It was evident in the little things that the artisans in my workshop would do, like be hesitant to take orders from a woman and expect a male to be a decision-maker.
When I started my business, it was my passion project but these small things that you face can be bothersome in the beginning. It took me some time to get used to being comfortable in my role and I have managed to train and, even change my workforce wherever necessary.
It was mandatory to make those difficult decisions and hold my ground whenever necessary to make my workplace conducive not only to me but also to other women artisans.
When it comes to business, nothing can fully prepare you for challenges, you have to face them and if you don’t rise above your difficulty it makes your survival in the industry strenuous.
To maintain a healthy and functional workspace, I treat all my artisans and employees with respect and expect the same from them but if I feel someone is being sexist at my workspace, rather than turning a blind eye to it, I chose to have a conversation with them even if it gets uncomfortable.
If I don’t stand up for the things I believe in, I can’t expect anyone else to. I have to be the change I want to see.
I think a lot of women are still hesitant to show their confident side to the world because of the scare of how people will react, I think every woman who works at my organization is given equal rights to voice their opinion and to express their thoughts.
I think listening to everyone and not over talking helps an individual grow, because it helps you look beyond the judgmental instincts that you might have otherwise.
The world has become a more inclusive place now and what matters are the skill set and the dedication to bring to the table, it’s no longer whether you are a man or a woman.
I have never personally faced any sexism at my workplace and I am working towards building a secure environment for every individual who is working with me.
For me, it’s always been an evaluation of a role based on performance and giving everyone an equal opportunity at work. Alongside we have a very detailed clear guidebook for what is considered acceptable behavior.
No, I haven’t faced such issues in my workplace. In general we can’t say it’s not happening in the workplaces but it’s considerably reduced nowaday through awareness programs and organisation’s initiatives.
Women should be strong enough to voice out without any fear if such cases happen in their workplace so that we can take proper action.
In our startup we ensure that we will be alway open to hear such feedback from anyone in workplace and will take action on such cases if it’s reported in our workplace and also its individual men’s responsibility to treat their female coworkers as a friend and ensure their safety, only then we can make sure not to happen in any workplace.
Naina Aggarwal Ahuja – Founder & COO, Talking Point Communications
Naina Aggarwal Ahuja – Founder & COO, Talking Point Communications
I took the plunge as an entrepreneur at quite a young age when most people would rather get into a comfortable corporate job.
My work is all about managing people’s reputations and communicating a brand’s messaging aptly to its target audience. This means I practically work round the clock.
Being a woman makes this a tad bit more challenging given the different things I need to balance on a day-to-day basis – from running the company, being the trustee of an NGO, managing home, and also finding the time to follow my passion.
However, what has kept me going in all these years is my ability to prioritize, set the right expectations across all aspects of my life, and staying true to my commitments.
I think being at the helm of affairs does not have anything to do with gender. It is about believing in what you have set out to achieve and going full-steam ahead with diligence and perseverance. Even during COVID-19, when most business sectors suffered a setback, I did not let it deject me. We kept it going and tried to look for newer avenues in times like these.
Dr. Malini Saba – Founder & Chairman, Saba Group
Dr. Malini Saba – Founder & Chairman, Saba Group
Sexism at workplace happens every day in a lot of small things; it is slow & toxic, a death by a thousand cuts. Positioning at predominantly held male dominated space is not been easy.
I have met the best minds and the worst, frauds and cons, been fooled & bullied, sexually harassed and assaulted. I focus on hiring mainly women to create a culture for women in all ‘boys club’.
The pandemic has intensified sexism challenges that women already face, working mothers have always worked a “double shift”—a full day of work, followed by hours spent caring for children and doing household labour. Now the supports that made this possible—including school and childcare—have been upended.
To curb sexism at workplace was not just about having one issue fixed, we tried addressing all the small things that add up to a bigger problem for women to succeed at work. We allow flexible work arrangements and focus on productivity and results, and not time spent at the desk. We support pay transparency & ensure that there are no gaps in our workplace by doing a wage audit.
We hold regular events, workshops, campaigns and also engage outside speakers to conduct sessions on discrimination, harmful behavior, defending & supporting women and building trust. To liven up these sessions we incorporate them into company retreats or other outings to associate it with fun events. We have expanded our services related to mental health, such as counselling and enrichment programs, and give training to help managers support the team mental health and well-being.
Chahat Aggarwal- Founder and CEO of Impact Study Biz
Chahat Aggarwal- Founder and CEO of Impact Study Biz
Yes, I have faced sexism in the workplace and I can go on and on about it. Sexism sometimes is so subtle that many a time one is left wondering if it really was sexist or is overthinking it. But trust me, 9/10 times it is sexist. And then there are situations of blatant in-your-face sexism. I remember once sitting in a meeting where a man kept talking to the male colleague throughout the meeting whilst completely ignoring me. It was supremely awkward to sit there and be treated invisible.
Coming to the second part of the question. Firstly, we are a women-led company. We have women across all functions and hence, I feel we subconsciously are ingrained with the principles of discouraging sexism in a big way. However, if someone feels they have encountered it, we give them complete right to red flag it then and there. No need for any further process. And of course, we will make sure to look into the matter thoroughly and take the appropriate actions. But luckily, so far our culture has steered us away from all such incidences.
Although this happens to both the genders, women are more susceptible to sexism and workplace harassment. Giving their promotion to a male worker or luring them into an early promotion offer, sexual favours for quid pro quo are some of the common incidents reported by employees.
Sexual harassment at workplace can be unnerving and can jeopardize the confidence and self esteem of the person going through it. An open door policy, a solid readdresal structure and empathy towards the victim are the key essentials to prevent the unthoughtful at source.
Jeenal Jain
