People don’t have to say that they are having fun at work. If they are, it shows. Is work only work, or could it be fun too? How does work become fun? My take: Of course, we all make our choices early in our career. But even the most seemingly fun jobs have their share of pain behind them. In such a scenario, what makes it real fun is different for different people. For some, a word of appreciation works wonders, while for others it may be a reward.

People travel hard, work hard and sometimes sacrifice on sleep during weekdays. If after a week of filled with work, one is exposed to some fun element, it only makes one look forward to Mondays, instead of hating them. And the week I do not hate my Mondays, I have figured out that I give more of myself to my work.

We have these Fun-Fridays at work, where we gather and do fun things like games, singing, dancing, quiz and much more. Not just de-stressing, it also helps us know more people who are our colleagues.

So fun helps with work. Fair deal, what say?

What should be the other values that make our cult the *cult*?

A compilation of values discussed already:

2. Transparency
If you have seen the new One97 building, you could not have missed its glass facade. If you have ventured inside, you would have seen a sea of spaces lined with open work stations and cabins made of glass walls. A zero-barrier, open, transparent office.

This is what Wikipedia says about Corporate transparency: a form of radical transparency is the construct of removing all barriers to —and facilitating of— free and easy public access to corporate, political and personal information and the laws, rules, social connivance and processes that facilitate and protect those individuals and corporations who freely join, develop and embellish the process.

So are we really as transparent as our “look”? What does it take for us to become a  zero-barrier, open, transparent company? Is it enough that our “top brass” is easily accessible? Is it enough that expression has its close friend: freedom at hand?
1. Freedom
It also takes freedom for talent to flourish in a corporate workspace. Freedom to think; the confidence that you will be heard, and the sub conscious belief that you share a mission with others, to realize a vision … I think this is an outcome of culture.

Our culture.

Over the last six months we have struggled to get more and more people involved in the “Fun Initiatives” that we undertake every week. Having a team with the average age of 25 does help, because once you get them in one place they will create a lot of excitement by themselves. So we decided to let people decide how they wanted to have fun and we would just act as facilitators.

Eureka! Though it is early days yet we feel we have a winning formula!

So the last fortnight has seen one dance night, one evening of fun and games ….including some street cricket and a visit to an amusement park.  And next in this series is a trip to Goa followed by a rafting trip. Not everyone attended every event but every one did attend one or the other event.

However, this does not mean we will do away with events where everyone gets together!