' I've Had Enough '

We've all had those days when we've 'Had enough' and want to pop a letter to the management and say' I resign'. Well, we are going to let you do that with the added benefit that anything you say cannot be held against you and if you are able to blow us away, we give you a prize ! 

Here's what you need to do ? ✔ [Step 1] Submit the coolest resignation letter you can come up with, as a comment on the contest post on our Facebook wall and ✔ [Step 2] Get as many friends as you can to like your comment before the contest deadline. ✿ The entry with the maximum number of likes wins super cool goodies and gets featured on our blog. 

Is there a catch? None except one. You cannot simply lift a letter off the net. It has to be your creation. Hurry! Contest ends 6:00 p.m. on 24 May 2013. 

Here's the winning entry. Congratulations to Kali Rawat on winning this contest. 

The Get Wit-Witty Contest !

Ever been through the phase where you made a super witty remark at work and nobody really got what you were trying to say? Well, here's your chance to try once more and get acknowledged! 

Welcome to the awesome Get Wit-Witty Contest!

Or should we say otherwise? We have a task for you, something which will come to you naturally and won’t take much of your time either. It's really simple. All you need to do is click on  http://bit.ly/GetWitWitty Answer a few questions and lo behold! You may just win yourself some awesome goodies and a chance to get featured on our blog. Bonus points if you can add a hint of sarcasm.

Is there a catch? None except one. Have fun! Oh wait, there is another. If you pick a quote or something off the net, do mention where you got it from. That’s all.

Contest ends 04 May 2013. 6:00 p.m. Results will be posted on our Facebook Wall. www.Facebook.com/MakeWorkFun . What are you waiting for? Get cracking we say! Remember this "Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until they speak." - Steven Wright

Winning Entries : Priyanka Agrawal – (a line on the mug) flipped the other way if the boss passes by | “Don't mess with me. I am smarter, meaner and know the management better.” | & Arnaz Mistry – “I have a great boss so murder is not on the cards!” | 

© Never Grow Up ^TM WPL

Fostering Creativity @ Work

It's a fact that a lot of us work long hours... sometimes six days a week. And then we go to sleep! Which means that majority of the time we are awake is spent in our little cubicle (or a corner office if you have one). Here’s to the thought that the right environment at work goes a long way in fostering creativity and ensuring that organizations have a happy & engaged workforce. After all, if most of the time that we are awake is spent at office, why should that space be boring?

Research shows that staff performs better when they’re happily engaged at work and this includes the environment they work in. An office with interesting and creatively done interiors is a compelling reason for people to be able to think out of the box. The right environment pushes employees to think of possibilities, gives them new perspectives to look at things which, is the stepping stone towards innovation and fresh ideas. What if one day, you walk into office and find that the chairs in your meeting room have disappeared? Instead, you find an XBox and a few bean bags or couches? Makes you go WOW right?

It also makes you want to come to work the next day knowing that you are not entering a 'cube farm' or for that matter a dull place. In a market as competitive as ours, if fresh ideas and innovation is the key to success, then the environment in which ideas are developed goes a long way in ensuring this. A cool workspace does more than just take more pictures at work. In fact it can de-stress you (after rush hour traffic) and even inspire you to come up with solutions that work :) 

New Hats For The Chiefs !

New Hats for the Chiefs

Companies are doing away with time-worn designations and introducing creative concepts in naming key roles. Others are doing away with terms like ‘employees’ and ‘heads’, in an attempt to break down hierarchies and bring in more colour to their jobs 

Job titles that say, ‘agile evangelist’ or ‘chief pusher’ may conjure up images of work involving two extremes — one, a crusader, and the other, connecting to the seamier world of narcotics. But with a bit of lateral thinking, these can also be perfectly operational, senior corporate designations.

Corporate India is tossing out the old, stodgy nomenclature in favour of creative, personalised designations. At Bangalore-based start up Teleradiology Solutions, the CEO is called the ‘chief pusher’, quite simply because he pushes and nudges employees into delivering the goods. The organisation also has a chief listening officer (HR head) and chief enabler (technology head). “It creates an environment where designations do not matter,” says chief dreamer, Sunita Maheshwari.

Instead of being called ‘business development head’,Maheshwari prefers the quirkier title she now has. In most organisations that work on similar lines, executives want their titles to resonate their approach to work instead of seniority. It breaks down hierarchies; Maheshwari, for instance, plans to knock off the ‘chief ’ in her title.

In most cases, though, the choice of designation is reserved for those who have proved themselves. The rest of the employees can stick to well-worn labels. The core content of the ‘glamorised’ role does not change.

The Label Says it All 

Chief Listening Officer

THE WAILING wall for all employees. Looks after policies, compensation and career growth. Also known as the human resource head

Chief Pusher

OTHERWISE CALLED the chief executive officer. Now wears the ‘nudging’ badge high

Chief Dreamer

IDEATES TO get more clients and business. In the traditional hierarchy, is called business development head

People Success

A HUMAN resource officer who involves himself or herself closely in career development, and is a success enabler of employees and the organisation

Chief Ethics Officer

KEEPS A check on fraudulent behaviour, and a close watch on every business unit

Agile Evangelist

THE ROLE involves promoting the adoption of Agile software across businesses

Story by Devina Sengupta @ Times : Snippets from ET, 13 April 2012, Page 6. 

Witty @ Work Contest !

With the last working day of this financial year just hours away, what better way than to end the year with a ' Witty @ Work' contest .  Before you think of what we are going to ask you to do, remember, winners take home some awesome goodies as prizes. Here's what you need to do ... 

Log in to our pages on Facebook or Pinterest and share your wittiest comments about life at work below the post keeping these for images in mind (we have numbered them for you ...duh!). Is that all ? Well no... that's one part... lets just make it easy...Step 1. Like us on Facebook or Pinterest Step 2. Post your comment/s keeping these pictures in mind. Step 3. Get your friends to like it. Needless to say, more likes means more points. Deadline ? Midnight of 05 April 2012 

Log on to our pages on Facebook or Pinterest to submit your entries.

Rules (cause we need  a few) @ Post your comments below the picture on the fan pages @ Judges decision will be final. We take care to ensure that only the coolest entries win. @ Prizes will be sent within a week after the contest ends. Please direct all queries and questions to info@willnevergrowup.com I "Never Grow Up" and the "Never Grow Up Brown box" logo are registered trademarks of Never Grow Up Workshops Pvt. Ltd. The design used in the contest creatives have been procured for Never Grow Up WPL. All rights reserved.© 2012. I

Our Story on YourStory

We have waited long for this day to come and it's finally here !  Our Story and journey has been featured on YourStory.in , one of the most comprehensive online platforms for entrepreneurs.  Check out the coverage :)

' Screw Dheela Hai ' Season 2

Its Back ! The legendary Screw Dheela Hai Contest is back with Season 2. A fun and kick a## contest with 3 simple steps and a chance to win loads of prizes!!!

1. Remember the day you were doing something looney, with a funny expression on your face and a friend or colleague was quick to catch u in the act? Or the day you had fun with your team @ work. (The stuff you laugh about now and say Screw dheela hai mera! (As in that was one whacked out – not in my character moment). Yes! Pick those photos. 

2. Send us these photos (jpeg/png) at info@willnevergrowup.com with your full name & city. And your pet name (if you have one). Also send us a small note on the incident in question!

3. Get Rewarded: Top three entries win some super cool prizes (priceless!). One of them is an IPod Shuffle while others include cool merchandise and gift vouchers. 

Contest Rules:

a. You can send in a maximum of 5 photos per person. These can be photos and images right from childhood to your perceived adult stage. Remember... being crazy and out of the box is the key. You can also create these moments now that you know there is a prize.

b. Last date for submission is 8^th December 2011 by 4:00 pm IST

c. Contest is open to people across the universe :) So don’t forget to tell your friends!

If u want to know what you are up against, check out the SDH Video from Season I. Remember though, this is just the tip of the iceberg :) 

Har Ek Boss Zaroori Hota Hai !

Happy Boss's Day !

View more presentations from Never Grow Up .

And The Winner Is !

Congratulations to Sonam Kumar [Mumbai] on winning the Mera Workspace Contest ! 

The world needs lawyers like you :) Cheers ! 

The Mera Workspace Contest !

                                 Click on the contest poster to submit your entry ! 
© Never Grow Up. All Rights Reserved. 

To Tell or Not To Tell ?

The Gossip Paradox : We all do it. We like to share stories but the trick is to set boundaries at work. A sample of senior vice-presidents of communication at Fortune 500 companies stated that harmful rumours reached their ears on an average of nearly once a week. Gossiping at work is also about passive workplace aggression. Even those in leadership roles indulge in making remarks about others. Be cautious, because that’s how negative reputations are made.

The urge to gossip can get you in trouble. Billionaire Ray Dalio, Wall Street heavyweight, has a new stringent diktat! He’s banning office gossip and sacking employees who are caught gossiping more than three times. His policy is ruthless: If employees are caught tongue-wagging about their bosses or colleagues behind their backs, they get two verbal warnings. It’s an unlucky third time when they get fired on the spot. In the company email, he wrote, “Never say anything about a person you wouldn’t say to him directly. If you do, you are a slimy weasel.” Psychology Today reports, “Gossip is like sex. It is so much fun that people can’t stop themselves from doing it.

Can chitchat help you get ahead? 

Even though gossip gets a bad rap, experts also believe that nuanced chitchat may be essential to getting ahead in a career. “If you must be negative, be smart not only about what you say, but also how you say it. Anyone who is an achiever or has good looks or their boss’s favourite will be an easy target. Some disclosures are deliberately spread by senior management in the form of gossip to make people more alert (or so is rumoured). 

Edited from Times Life : September 2011.  

Do Happier People Work Harder ?

Do Happier People Work Harder?

Research shows that staff perform better when they’re happily engaged at work

Americans (And if we extrapolate this to our country) now feel worse about their jobs – and work environments – than ever before. And there’s no reason to think things will soon improve, according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which has been polling more than 1,000 adults every day since January 2008. Employee engagement may seem like a frill in a downturn economy. But it can make a big difference in a company’s survival. 

In a 2010 study, James K. Harter and colleagues found that lower job satisfaction foreshadowed poorer bottom-line performance. Gallup estimates the cost of America’s disengagement crisis at a staggering $300 billion in lost productivity annually. When people don’t care about their jobs or their employers, they don’t show up consistently, they produce less or their work quality suffers. 

Over the past decade, the research looked into the micro-level causes behind this macro-level problem. To gain real-time perspective into everyday work lives, nearly 12,000 electronic diary entries from 238 professionals in seven companies were collected. The analysis revealed their inner work lives – the usually hidden perceptions, emotions and motivations that people experience as they react to and make sense of events in their workdays. 

The results were sobering. In one-third of the 12,000 diary entries, the diarist was unhappy, unmotivated or both. In fact, workers often expressed frustration, disdain or disgust. Research shows that inner work life has a profound impact on workers’ creativity, productivity, commitment and collegiality. Employees are far more likely to have new ideas on days when they feel happier. Conventional wisdom suggests that pressure enhances performance; the real-time data, however, shows that workers perform better when they are happily engaged in what they do. 

Teresa Amabile, a professor at Harvard Business School, and Steven Kramer, an independent researcher, are the authors of The Progress Principle:  The New York Times / ET Mumbai , 13 Sept. 2011

Preoccupations : Trust Evidence !

Preoccupations : Trust Evidence for Effective Management

Failure to consider sound evidence repeatedly inflicts unnecessary damage on employee well-being & group performance

Consider this hypothetical situation: You have a serious illness. Your doctor prescribes an intrusive, painful and costly treatment. What she doesn’t say — because she hasn't consulted the research — is that most studies find the treatment ineffective and fraught with negative side effects. You go through the procedure, which doesn’t work. You later find the research your doctor failed to consult. When you ask why, she answers: “Who pays attention to studies? I have years of clinical experience. Besides, the protocol seemed as if it ought to work.” Does that sound like malpractice? It does to us. Fortunately, pressures to practice evidence-based medicine are reducing preventable errors. That isn’t the case, however, in most workplaces, where failure to consider sound evidence repeatedly inflicts unnecessary damage on employee well- being and group performance. It doesn’t have to be that way. Consider the issue of incentive pay. Many people believe that paying for performance will work in virtually any organization, so it is used again and again to solve problems — even where evidence shows it is ineffective. As The New York Times reported in July, a study found that the effort to link incentive pay to student performance “had no positive effect on either student performance or teachers’ attitudes.” But that bad news could have been predicted long before spending all that time and money. After all, the failure of similar efforts to improve school performance has been documented for decades. 

Here is another example: Research has shown that stable membership is a hallmark of effective work teams. People with more experience, working together, typically communicate and coordinate more effectively. Although this effect is seen in studies of everything from product development teams to airplane cockpit crews, managers often can’t resist the temptation to rotate people in and out to minimize costs and make scheduling easier. 

Another workplace danger is excessive self-confidence, which can help people rise to positions of power but can also render them less effective leaders. Overconfident decision-makers use a practice that is ineffective for most others — but they believe they are so talented that the usual findings don’t apply to them. In medicine, the evidence-based movement arose in response to thousands of deaths and billions of wasted dollars that could have been averted by applying proven practices. Similarly, in other fields, the growing pile of studies on the human and financial costs of employee disengagement, management distrust, poor group dynamics, faulty incentive schemes and other preventable damage suggests a need for an evidence-based management movement. Some organizations are leading the way. It’s time for many more to follow suit. 

Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton are professors at Stanford : The New York Times / Condensed from the ET Mumbai 13 Sept.

Insights into WLB & Gen Y

Balance it right!

• A startling 85% of recruiters say that candidates turn down job offers from employers that aren’t work-life balance-friendly. According to a work-life balance survey 80 per cent of executives say that work-life balance as a parameter plays a vital role during the job search process. 
• Work-life balance today directly impacts the retention of top executive talent. An unhealthy work-life balance leads to increased stress, strain on personal relationships and a lack of personal fulfilment. All of these factors will push executives towards greener pastures. Other aspects like compensation and perks are of a transactional nature. 
• According to some, the degree at which work-life balance influences the decision of a job-seeker is closely linked to one’s age and the nature of the role the employee has chosen to perform. 
• According to the AESC survey, two-thirds of companies are developing programmes to help top candidates boost their family time without sacrificing their careers.

Making it work :) 

• Time-out: It is an efficient tool by which every employee is given an opportunity to choose time-out during work hours.This can be followed on a daily/weekly basis depending on the nature of the business. An employee can take 30-45 minutes of time-out to read, listen to music, play an indoor game, take a nap, exercise, practice yoga, watch a movie, etc. But at the same time, the employee must be within the company premises at a dedicated space allocated to pursue such activities. 
• Child care: It’s necessary to develop a children’s programme for working mothers/fathers wherein companies need to invest in a separate space where a working parent can spend time with their kid/kids during work hours. A progressive firm needs to make arrangements w.r.t school pick-up/drop and other basic amenities in the form of indoor games, stationary, food, etc. 
• Personalize your workspace: The offices are likely to provide much more than just a cubicle. You will find the office space designed to take care of employees’ “needs” beyond work. 
• Work-exchange: Creating a “trading place” where employees can opt to pursue something that they aspire to pursue (read: hobby) will foster positive results. 

How Gen Y today defines and perceives work-life balance?

• The Gen Y job-seeker has different priorities/aspirations. Experts say that besides a good salary, they show concern w.r.t flexible working. “While compensation, career growth, importance of the task performed, etc are important, work-life balance assures employees that they will work in a conducive environment"
• “The whole phenomenon of ‘my own space’ seems to be the flavour of the day, especially for Gen Y,” According to a recent study across Asia Pacific, work-life balance is the single largest contributor to the Gen Y group of employees who are anticipating a change in their career in the next five years. 
• On being asked the reason for not having aspirations to advance to an executive position, they again attributed as the impact it would have on their work-life balance as the prime reason. 

This post is a series of snippets from the ascent and various other reports that has been compiled to share insights into work life balance, looking at things that work and managing a young a vibrant workforce in the years to come ! 

Pay Not the First Priority Anymore?

Would you nix a high-paying job offer if it fails to assure career growth opportunities? According to a recent survey, the modern-day job-seeker is doing just that...

India Inc today is a fragment of an ever-changing corporate scenario and as its dynamics evolve, employees and job-seekers find their aspirations and incentives shifting. Mercer’s ‘What’s Working’ survey validates that out of 13 possible reward elements, Indian respondents say that career advancement is their most important reward element. Base pay is the second-most important followed by training opportunities. “Reward points in today’s scenario get far more complicated than the good old days, where you would have a son coming home to his parents with a box of sweets, proclaiming his salary hike, followed by the entire family breaking into a song and dance of how their lives have changed for good. Today’s youth demands are more focussed, planned and diverse. A macro point of view for reward schemes seems quite simple and can be generalised, but as you look closer, rewards need to be personalised and customised to suit needs and desires.”

So, what is it that makes career advancement the most sought-after reward element? 

“In a hyper-growth environment, ‘growth’ is the mantra for business success. For an employee, their organisation or manager working with them on a career development plan is imperative to their personal and professional growth. From an organisation’s perspective, career advancement is important for retention as also for attracting talented employees to the workplace. It increases employee engagement levels as well.” 

    

“Career advancement is one way in which employees believe that they can stay relevant. It ensures that employees can keep up with the changes. The age at which one becomes obsolete and redundant is decreasing. Hence, rather than chasing basic pay, employees understand the need to be relevant and have a ‘career’.” After career advancement and base pay, the third most sought-after career incentive was training opportunities, thus revealing that India Inc employees don’t just aspire to accomplish a good career, but also want to get better at what they do. 

Consequently, whether the bait for climbing up the corporate ladder is training opportunities, career advancement incentives or basic pay, one cannot refute the fact that India Inc today is more motivated than ever to be on top of their game. 

Condensed from the Times Ascent 07 September 2011

Help Employees Balance Home & Office

Stress At Work

Help Employees Balance Home and Office

Win-win situation: Employees who can balance roles are likely to be more productive and less stressed

How many times have we had a colleague at work who is bogged down by stress, not directly linked to workplace? Ira Mohanty was one such colleague. She woke up at 5 am, sent her two children to school and then by 9 am, was at her laptop answering mails and attending to work-related calls. From 1 pm onwards, Ira kept looking at the clock and from 2.30 pm, we could hear raised voices from her cubicle as she called home and shouted at her children who just kept watching television and did not finish their homework. They were home with easy-going grandparents and did their own thing till the parents returned home. And Ira is not alone. At the water cooler or in the cafeteria and even in the lift, one hears snatches of conversation on these lines: Kids these days are so opinionated… only does what she wants to do… eats only chips and noodles… refuses to dress by herself or polish her shoes… hates going to school… spends too much time on the net… has become a virtual stranger… difficult and moody… and so on. 

More and more parents are coping with the challenges of how to manage professional and personal lives — how to be better parents, how to stay abreast of what is happening with their children in schools and their social lives, how to be there for them in their time of need while juggling their careers and job-related challenges. All of us grapple with balancing multiple roles but our biggest responsibility is towards the next generation. Being a parent, I could empathise with them, but the enormity of the issue came to light last month when in a focused group discussion, the members of our Global Work Life (GWL) team broached the subject of having parenting workshops to help colleagues and other employees cope with different issues. These issues stemmed from the fact that most employees have nuclear families where care givers may not be part of the family system. The findings of the 2010 Global Work Life Issues (GWLI) Survey, conducted among IBM employees, indicate that almost half (46%) of IBM India employees have a child under the age of 18. Among parents of children 0-5 years old, 12% have their child cared for at home by a nanny, babysitter or maid. 

Another 14% of these parents have their child cared for by a relative (other than their spouse or partner). "In-home" care by a maid or nanny can be quite flexible and affordable, but may also be very unreliable and of poor quality. Caregivers often lack knowledge of child development and have poor social-relationship and literacy skills. Parents using this type of care reported the lowest satisfaction rates in the GWLI survey compared to parents whose child was cared for by a relative or in a child care centre. Employees across the world are sharing similar concerns about managing work and family. Magazines and the Internet provide information and counsel, elders at home advise you differently while friends have a totally contrary opinion. 

So how do you cope? We put together a panel of experts in child care and decided to host parenting workshops for parents to address their queries and discuss issues relating to their children. The workshops stressed that it is equal responsibility, which means both the father and the mother have to be involved in child rearing, as against the misconception that only the mother is responsible. What parents at work learned were different aspects of quality parenting, like laughing with the child, spending time with the child, playing with her/him, listening to what the child has to say and not just existing together in front of the television set. Care givers must also be equipped with basic information to handle difficult situations at home. Employees who can balance roles are likely to be more productive and less stressed, so it is a win-win both for the organisation and the individual. A workplace that encourages an individual to balance different roles is likely to have a happier and more productive workforce. 

The author is Diversity Manager at IBM India, South Asia Source : ET Mumbai 06 September 2011

What your HR will never tell you Directly !

About your Resume!

1. “Once you’re unemployed more than six months, you’re considered pretty much unemployable. We assume that other people have already passed you over, so we don’t want anything to do with you.” –Cynthia Shapiro, Author

2. “When it comes to getting a job, who you know really does matter. No matter how nice your résumé is or how great your experience may be, it’s all about connections.” –HR director at a health-care facility.

3. “If you’re trying to get a job at a specific company, often the best thing to do is to avoid HR entirely. Find someone at the company you know, or go straight to the hiring manager.” –Shauna Moerke, an HR administrator

4. “People assume someone’s reading their cover letter. I haven’t read one in 11 years.” –HR director at a financial services firm

5. “We will judge you based on your e-mail address. Especially if it’s something inappropriate like kinkyboots101@hotmail.com or johnnylikestodrink@gmail.com.” –Rich DeMatteo,

6. “There’s a myth out there that a résumé has to be one page. So people send their résumé in a two-point font. Nobody is going to read that.” –HR director at a financial services firm

7. “I always read résumés from the bottom up. And I have no problem with a two-page résumé, but three pages is pushing it.” –Sharlyn Lauby, HR consultant

8. “Most of us use applicant-tracking systems that scan résumés for key words. The secret to getting your résumé through the system is to pull key words directly from the job description and put them on. The more matches you have, the more likely your résumé will get picked and actually seen by a real person.” –Chris Ferdinandi, HR professional

About the Job Interview!

1. “It’s amazing when people come in for an interview and say, ‘Can you tell me about your business?’ Seriously, people. There’s an Internet. Look it up.” –HR professional

2. “A lot of managers don’t want to hire people with young kids, and they use all sorts of tricks to find that out, illegally. One woman kept a picture of two really cute children on her desk even though she didn’t have children [hoping job candidates would ask about them]. Another guy used to walk people out to their car to see whether they had car seats.” –Cynthia Shapiro,

3. “Is it harder to get the job if you’re fat? Absolutely. Hiring managers make quick judgments based on stereotypes.  They’re just following George Clooney’s character in Up in the Air, who said ‘I stereotype. It’s faster.’” –Suzanne Lucas, a former HR executive

4. “I once had a hiring manager who refused to hire someone because the job required her to be on call one weekend a month and she had talked in the interview about how much she goes to church. Another candidate didn’t get hired because the manager was worried that the car he drove wasn’t nice enough.” –HR professional at a midsize firm

5. “Don’t just silence your phone for the interview. Turn it all the way off.” –Sharlyn Lauby, HR consultant

6. “If you’ve got a weak handshake, I make a note of it.” –HR manager 

7. “If you’re a candidate and the hiring manager spends 45 minutes talking about himself, the company or his Harley, let him. He’s going to come out of the interview saying you’re a great candidate.”  –Kris Dunn, chief human resources officer

[Condensed from Reader’s Digest Magazine, April 2011] 

Work Place Festivities !

WORKPLACE FESTIVITIES

Festivals have become a big part of the office culture nowadays. In the first of the two-part series, Mithila Mehta explores how organisations today celebrate festivals, outlining the professional implications. India is a country that loves its festivals and this sentiment extends to the workplace as well. Most organisations celebrate festive occasions with all the rituals and traditions in an extremely enthusiastic manner. "My organisation celebrates all major festivals, right from Holi to Eid, Parsi New Year, Christmas and Diwali. The HR department does an excellent job planning the festivities," says Suruchi Baliga, a journalist. Apart from the traditional celebrations, organisations are organising festivals in innovative ways. "Last year, we had a secret santa game at work. Everyone was assigned a colleague and you had to be his/ her secret santa for a week," shares Seema Koshi, a media research analyst. 

Today, occasions like Valentine's Day are also being celebrated. "On Valentine's Day, we had a red dress code. There were huge heart-shaped decorations, and the canteen made heart shaped cakes. It was meticulously done," recalls Baliga. Koshi shares how her organisation celebrates Children's Day by asking employees to bring their young ones to work. "Last year, we had about fifty kids at the office. We played games, saw an animated movie and had a party," she says. 

DASH OF COLOUR 

Festive celebrations at workplace are most welcome because they provide a respite from the routine. "Let's face it; office does tend to get monotonous at times. Festivals add a dash of fun and colour. It gives us something to look forward to," says Bharat Ramanujan, senior copywriter at an ad agency. For the organisation, festive celebrations can go a long way in building a happy, positive corporate culture. This is important in today's context, when organisations are more people-focussed than ever before. Says Samay Taneja, HR manager with an IT solutions company, "We get an opportunity to bond with our employees in a more informal setting.” Interestingly, the globalised nature of organisations is also reflected in the festivals and events being celebrated. "A few years ago, the focus was only on Indian festivals and ceremonies. However, now international days like St Patrick's Day, the year of the rabbit and the Chinese new year is celebrated,” informs Ramanujan. 

BREAKING BARRIERS 

Festive celebrations at the workplace help break existing hierarchies and boundaries. "This is one of the few occasions when people let their guard down and are willing to mingle. The entire mood is light and laidback. The usual office rules don't apply, and everyday dynamics are ignored," expresses Upasana Jain, risk analyst at a FMCG company. Agrees Baliga, "The entire organisational hierarchy is suspended. You can simply go up to the CEO and wish him. It is the perfect networking opportunity. Not only is the upper management approachable and 'around', but you have a perfect reason to strike up a conversation." At most workplaces, employees rarely get an opportunity to interact with colleagues from other departments. Festive occasions allow that as well. "We tend to become very comfortable in our own departments, forgetting to consider the organisation as a whole. So when there's a festival, it feels really nice to have everyone together. The same finance guys who I bicker with everyday are singing and dancing with me,” laughs Koshi. 

WE'VE GOT TALENT 

Festive occasions are also a chance to shed the sober and serious office appearance. It is also a platform to showcase some of your talents at the workplace. "I make the most intricately beautiful rangolis. So, during the Diwali celebrations, I offered to make a rangoli for my office. Colleagues, who had never spoken to me before, got to know me," says Jain. If you're an excellent organiser, help plan the event. If you cook well, carry some festive goodies to work. In this manner, festivals needn't just be about the holidays they bring, but also about fun at the work place.

[Mumbai Mirror, August 29,2011]

Har Ek BOSS Zaroori Hota Hai !

A tribute to the bosses !!! (Adapted from the famous Airtel jingle)

Chai k Liye jaise Toast hota hai,Waise har ek BOSS zaroori hota hai.
Koi friday evening  review par bulaye, Koi saturday ko office bulaye

Ek teri idea ko apna bataye,Aur Ek tera target har month badhaye
Koi nature se gentle, koi krodhit hota hai,
Par har ek boss zaroori  hota hai.
Ek ghadi ghadi reviewi kare par kabhi kabhi advice de 
Ek kabhi kabhi review kare aur ghadi ghadi advice de

Koi Gyan ka ghoomta phirta satellite,Koi din raat rakhe team ko  tight;
Koi welcomed hai, koi forced hota hai, Par har ek boss zaroori hota hai

Friendly  boss, Bossy boss, Koi Data crazy excel boss, Moody boss, koi  gloomy boss, Early morning office aane wala Boss, Koi late night jaane wala Boss..uffff ! 

Koi promote na kare aur appraisal me tarsaye 
Koi good suggestion ko bhi thukhraye 
Koi best friend aur, koi aloof hota hai 
Par har ek boss Zaroori hota hai !!

La, la ,la laaa......

The Crazy (Not so wet) Office Contest!

Our life at work takes up 2/3^rd of the time that we are awake. It forms the biggest part of our daily routine and ends up being in our conversations over coffee and drinks! These are the ones that normally revolve around what a ______ place my office is or how _______ my boss is! What we want you to do is this...

Tell us about the funniest / craziest / wackiest line or quote or dialogue you have ever heard while at work or over conversations at the water cooler or office.  These can also be lines that you’d love to wear on a badge or a not so wet T-shirt. Try and be as original as possible J You can even submit pictures to add that extra zing! (Enough with the hints)

To submit your entry, post your line on our Facebook fan page WALL http://on.fb.me/NGUPage Contest ends on 2^nd July @ 9:00 pm IST. One lucky winner with the most creative line gets an Ipod Shuffle! It’s that simple!