The Mera Workspace Contest !

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

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! 

Funny Out Of Office Messages !

Compiled from the net for your reading pleasure, these funny 'OOO' messages can add that sparkle to your response. We however take no responsibility for the outcome of using one of these messages... he he :P 

Credits : Google Images

1. I am currently out at a job interview and will reply to you if I fail to get the position because I will have to come back to this job. Be prepared for my mood.
2. I will be unable to delete all the unread, emails you send me until I Return from holiday. Please be patient and your e-mail will be deleted In the order it was received.
3. Thank you for your e-mail. Your credit card has been charged Rs.999 for the first ten words and Rs 99 for each additional word in your Message.
4. You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the Office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn't receive any response at all.
5. The e-mail server is unable to verify your server connection and is unable to deliver this message. Please restart your computer and try sending again.(The beauty of this one is that when you return, you can see how many in-duh-viduals did this over and over).
6. I've run away to join a different circus.
7. I am away from the office at this moment. I will still be away from the office at the next moment and returning at a later moment. If you have any issues at the current moment, and they cannot wait until a later moment, please contact my manager, who may actually be away at the moment.
8. I am currently out of the office. I have a cell phone, but I will not be giving it to you. If you can guess the number, I will take your call. 
9. Am at the dentists. Oh the pain !! Oh forget it ... what is it you were saying again ? Reach out at ________________ or don't ! ...The pain ...the pain ! 
10. I'm on vacation. If you can't reach me, please don't think I'm dead, especially if you're from payroll (if you're not from payroll, I don't really care what you think. Except you, boss). During my vacation, I will ignore most of my incoming emails. Why? Because being on vacation, I'm likely to be frolicking on a beach or something, and reading emails is incompatible with frolicking. I MAY read your email, but try not to hold your breath. If your request is important, please email me again after I return. (This is a really long one na ?) In case of an absolute emergency that requires my immediate attention, my teammates know how to contact me. Bribe them. Tell them they look beautiful. Say they look almost as attractive as me. Examples of "absolute emergency" include: You are the President, You are Elvis, You urgently want to give me a billion dollars,  You discovered that I'm The One, and you must find me before the Agents to give me that "blue pill, red pill" speech, All of the above.

Seven Ways to Reward Employees @ Work

No matter if your organization is big or small … it is your People that make up a business. And it is their collective efforts that determine your success. It is also true that Recognition and a timely pat on the back go a long way in keeping them happy and in turn with your organization. Compensation is what an employee receives for doing the job he had been hired for but Recognition is an honor for the efforts put in beyond the boundaries of duty.

A lot of organizations, however, look at rewards and recognition purely as a cost line. While the emphasis of being cost-effective cannot be undermined, it is also a great challenge to be cost effective and come up with unique ways to reward employees. Here’s one such humble attempt… 7 ways to reward employees J

http://willnevergrowup.com/shop

7. Birthdays are always special to every individual. Although for some it’s about getting old, it still is a day of celebration. Give your employees a paid day off on their birthdays. If momentary work pressure does not allow you to do so, then, arrange for a nice office birthday party. A small cake and some flowers and balloons can make your employee feel really special. Give him a day off some other time.

6. Respect your employees’ needs. You might ask how this is a reward? Every individual is bound to have family commitments. They might need to attend someone near and dear in the hospital, or for that matter pick up their children from school on a specific day, or, need to attend some very important family occasion. Value their commitments, for they in turn will value you.

5. The least expensive and one of the best rewards you can give your employee is a ‘Thank You’. These two simple words can make your employee feel great. This can be a really good reward for an employee as he understands that the company has recognized his/her hard work. On a monthly basis, hand out badges to the performer of the month. Allow them to carry the smile. Even address them by calling them ‘a champion’

4. One can also, occasionally, make arrangements for a dinner party. Invite your employees' families over to office without letting them know. This can be a sweet surprise.

3. Let co-workers write something they truly like or admire about the best performer. Then put them all together on a scrap paper along with an office group photograph and give it to him/her. This can be a truly likeable yet inexpensive gift.

2. When an employee does something really worthwhile for the company, ask the entire staff to give him a good round of applause at a meeting. Nothing works better! This however will not work if you choose to give someone critical advice on their performance in front of a group!

1. Pay it forward! Ask the managerial position holders to write secret hand-written notes of appreciation to their subordinates who have performed well. This will not only keep the employee guessing but also will ensure that they are nice to everyone around (not knowing who has written them a note)

If one looks at it objectively, all Employees expect is some amount of understanding, recognition and trust from their superiors. Once you understand this and act accordingly, the office becomes a much better place to work.

© Never Grow Up. All rights reserved. 

Getting the Best out of your Team !

Teamwork is integral to the success of any organisation. It has a huge impact on the performance of any enterprise. It is said that Teamwork can make or break an organisation. Contrarily, a bad team can cause unwanted disruptions and strategic failures. Team building is a process that requires attention and care. The emphasis on process and not an annual offsite or a town hall. Two very important factors in efficient team formation are a well thought out team orientation process and a clear team charter. When the members of a team properly understand what they are supposed to do and how they are supposed to do it has an impact on their performance. 


When you start work with your team, it can be helpful if you set a small rule-book of your own. Spend about 20 to 30 minutes with your team and collectively create a Code of Conduct. It can be a good way to welcome new members. Supervising a team of grown up adults is really not an easy task. A team consists of different people with different temperaments, different behavioural traits, different specialities and varying work ethics.Thus, conflict can be an inevitable consequence of teamwork. Allowing such differences to get out of hand causes unnecessary disruptions and leads to breakdowns in working relationships. Team members and more importantly team leaders should have basic knowledge of conflict resolution.

Credits : Google Images

Since a group comprises of adults, it is very important that as a team manager you behave accordingly. All your team members have intelligence, creativity and imagination. You can make the best use of these resources by showing them that you value their opinion.

To get the best out of your team at work you must practice all that you preach. If you ask your team members to come to office on time, you must be punctual yourself. Try to be a team member rather than being a leader. Work with your team. It is advisable that you do not try to boss around.

Prove you are superior to your team members through your work and not through your attitude or designation. Be inspiring not intimidating. Each member in your team should be able to come up to you and give in their ideas without the fear of being insulted or humiliated or being turned down rudely. Let everyone speak. It is wise not to allow a few to dominate the group. If that happens, it is the responsibility of a team leader to provide everyone with equal opportunity in a team.

Welcome comments and suggestions from your team members. Even when you give some ideas, allow your team members to give their comments to make it better.

Every team will almost inevitably have people who are introvert. Help them to express themselves.

Allow breaks. Both the human body and the brain need some rest. A small recess after a fruitful session of hard work does not hurt. It is rejuvenating and would help your team members perform better. The biggest hindrances to progressive work can be miscommunication between the team and internal creative conflicts, which eventually and certainly lead to lower collective output and poor results. A tired and stressed team cannot produce results. Under such circumstances a team leader can bring back the focus of the team by reinforcing the collective goal.

A very effective method of improving people’s performance is by providing information to team members about individual performance and the overall performance of the team. Care should be taken that this information is not conveyed in a manner that causes resentment or animosity. Do not point out individual drawbacks in front of the whole team. Discuss separately with each member of your team. Comparison within a team can lead to bitterness among team members.

Although there is no ‘I’ in a team, it is crucial to understand that a team is made up of individuals. Building and honing the skills in individuals that are congruent with the needs of the team are critical to the good performance of a team. Collaborating and understanding the key issues facing the team is also very important. Cohesion ensures that members in a team work collectively towards the same goal. Finally, when a project is complete, do not forget to say ‘Thank You’ to your team members and appreciate their hard work. Do not forget to celebrate the success !!!

To Bunk or Not to Bunk !

With interesting Cricket World Cup matches around the corner, you may find yourself in the eternal dilemma ' To Bunk Work or Not to Bunk ' . In case you have had a tough time deciding, here are some excuses to Bunk work ! Looks like attendance will be low this Wednesday :P  

Before we share the list remember the things you need to give a solid excuse i.e. 

1. Confidence - Don't falter while talking. If necessary rehearse. You can sound sick... but that too with confidence. 
2. Be realistic - The dog cannot eat the research document on your laptop. Also, if you are strong enough to travel 30 kms to the nearest doctor and come back alone, you can pretty much make it to work. 
3. Cover your tracks - Some people tend to go all out to check if you are lying so remember to use these at your own risk :P

• My Mind and Body are in constant conflict since morning. Mind wants me to attend work, but my body wants to chill ! Guess my Body won the fight :)
• I have a terrible Back ache, can I work from home today ?
• Allergic Reactions to exotic jelly fish you made me eat last week at the office party.
• You have the biggest attack of Loose Motions ever !!! 
• You are locked in your own car hence reachable on phone :)
• You were all dressed and on your way to work and you twisted your ankle. You should be back in action tomorrow.
• Your closest maternal-aunts first cousins-sister's best friend has met with an accident and you are the SOS Contact !
• Your imaginary friend has just found kryptonite and you need to check if Superman exists ! 
• Your local neighborhood SERIAL KILLER is waiting for you outside your door and it would therefore, be detrimental to your security to try to get to work
• If you move and inch from your Loo, your team looses the match . Cite examples of the last 4 world cups :) 
• Your 5 year old cousin has accidentally 'super glued ' you to the couch !

P.S. This list is brought to you in collaboration with the oh so imaginary Department of Dummy Excuses !

The Thing About Employer Branding !

To set the ball rolling, Employer branding can be defined as all the operations carried out by a business to create and communicate its own identity to a target group composed of candidates and employees, so that the brand attracts and holds onto these subjects in line with the corporate culture and values. 

Credits : Google Images

The Employee Is the Customer

Over the last few years, employees are increasingly behaving like consumers when choosing to join or stay with an employer. It states that a positive employer brand can be a way of differentiating one organization from another and a way of creating a strong, distinctive and attractive identity with which current or potential employees can identify. This brings us to a set of questions and things what one also needs to look at i.e. How strong is your product? Will it survive the expectation of the ever so changing consumer?

 

The Need to Create an Employer Brand
If we look at an employee as someone out to buy a TV set and the employer as the brand, the question is...what do you look for while buying a TV? Why do you prefer a certain brand over another? That also brings us to a fundamental question of, what does your existing and potential talent pool think about you? Why would someone want to work with you? Is there a certain perception about you as a company in the minds of existing and potential employees? With a shrinking talent pool, increasing cost of talent acquisition and fierce competition, there is an increasing need to become an employer of choice for people. A company that people want to work with! Think of a company that is flooded with requests in the ‘careers’ section with people wanting desperately to work with & you get the picture. If the above holds true, you need to ensure that you are doing the right things to get through to people at all levels...and to that effect having a concrete Employer Branding Strategy in place is critical.

Find this interesting ?
 For a copy of the entire article on insights into Employer Branding, share your details on this link: http://tinyurl.com/EB2011 ~ We will email you a copy asap ! 
© Never Grow Up. All rights reserved. 

What are we all about ?

The Never Grow Up Company Presentation

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Cube Farm ~ A funny take on Life @ Work !

Presenting Cube Farm from Never Grow Up ~ 

Cube Farm is a derisive vernacular term for featureless, modern open office designs which consist of seemingly endless rows of identical office cubicles. Cube farm is a tribute to the desk jockey, the hard worker, the cube monkey! To the person who loves or hates their boss, their job, their consumer driven existence and to our cat (if we have one)! Presenting a few fun products to make your workplace a lot more fun!

Starting off with Office Magnets ! At a size of 2 X 2.5 inches, these magnets are small enough to hide at your desk and big enough to help you make your point! Put these in the office space you work for your entry into the ‘cool dudes at work’ category :) To check out the funny side to work or shop online log on to http://willnevergrowup.com/shop  to check out all products :)

Presenting Fun Vouchers from Never Grow Up™

In case you are wondering what we are up to with this offering...It’s time to look beyond the obvious food coupons and clothing GVs to reward employees or to gift friends we say!

Presenting Fun Vouchers from Never Grow Up™

Reward your colleague for a job well done, gift this to a friend or use this to ‘pataao’ your better half! Available in denominations of 500, 1000 & 1500 and valid for 6 months, these Fun Vouchers can be used by the recipient for the specified value at any of our public workshops (These range from photography sessions, learning archery, fun with finances, pottery, creative writing, art appreciation, recycled art, bartending and cocktails workshops, theatre, music, dance and many more...) That’s not all, you can also use these vouchers to redeem quirky and fun merchandise from any our affiliates from the Fun stuff section on our website or even spend it to redo your office space!

We like... We buy... We gift!

Its simple, drop us a line at funstuff@willnevergrowup.com with your contact details and we will take it from there. What say ?

Get ready for the first Monday in 2011 :)

The New Year has begun! While the hangovers may have gone, the party spirit lives on. As we approach the first Monday of 2011, for all those going back to work ... here's a little something to spruce up your Life @ Work and make it fun! 11 brand new Office dares to do in 2011! Each dare gets you 5 points. Go ahead and make the most of this... while you can :)

# Put post-its all over your boss’s desk saying My Boss Bestest! (Extremely relevant if you have quarterly appraisals)

# Set up a mini golf kit @ work and shout ‘Goaaall’ every time you succeed.

# On a particular day, shake hands with everyone you see and say ‘Subah Ho Gayi Mamu’

# For one week, during lunch hour, in the cafeteria, clap once every five minutes!

# Send flowers to yourself and blush every time someone asks you about it!

# At the water cooler, tear the paper cups to make a collage that says ‘I know what you did on New Year’s. Give me 1 Million dollars’ # Now write your email below the collage ~ 10 points.

# During a staff meeting, fold your legs on the chair and go ‘Whooosaaa... breathe...breathe...this is just a test’

# Juggle stuff while talking to your colleagues. 5 points extra if you can do this while talking to your boss!

# Staple every single page in the weekly forecast report and hand over copies to everyone.

# Put up a huge red ribbon around your head (or a bandanna) for one whole day and say ‘I am Superman. The King of Gondor’ when someone asks you why you are doing this.

P.S: While we take no responsibility of what may happen to you in the days to come, feel free to reach out if you can think of more dares:) © Never Grow Up. All rights reserved.

My Workspace ~ My Style !

It’s a fact that most of us work long hours... sometimes six days a week ~ ten hours straight!  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). If most of the time we are awake is spent at office, why should that space be boring? Presenting...

What’s this all about?

If your work involves sitting in front of the computer screen for all your working hours then this is for you. My Workspace is a super cool service where you can get us to design or decorate your cubicle or office space based on your personality and liking. You tell us a bit about yourself and we come back with ideas to design your workspace – your style without making any structural changes to your cubicle. (We do understand that your company already has a fixed layout and that your boss is okay with this).

Sounds interesting... How do we begin?

To us, each cubicle is special :) Click here !  to get started by telling us a bit about yourself. The next step would be to send us a photo of your cubicle or office and we will take it from there! If you are not really sure of what all this entails, feel free to write to us at myworkspace@willnevergrowup.com with your contact details and we will get back :)

How do I make this work for my office and team?

For starters, share this with your boss and the HR Team :)

If you are part of the HR team, of course we can implement this for the entire office. If you have the desire to make your office a cool space to be in (also be spoken about), all you gotta do is  give us a brief (and a budget) or just ask us how we can turn your office around so that your employees look forward to coming to work on a Monday. After all, they do spend most of their time in the week at work!

Turning every staff member into a ‘daughter-in-law’?

Sometime back a Director of multi locational organization posed a question to me… He said, “Can you tell me why an employee doesn’t ever feel that he ‘belongs’ where he/she is working..? What is it that you would suggest we do to make the staff feel that they are the integral part of the company and it is not merely a place where they come to earn their money so that they can go back and relax…?”

I feared that we were on a philosophical travel and wanted the discussion to come back to the topic of training modules which we had begun discussing.He gave me an example (in the Indian Context) “The new daughter in law comes to a new set up just because she is married to this man. She, as the tradition goes, changes her name, and wipes out her previous identity in a manner of speaking. But then instead of getting lonely, she begins asserting her role. She begins clearly conveying what changes she is seeking within the household, encouraging new practices and discouraging some existing ones. Why can’t an employee who spends nearly a third of his life in the office? Doesn’t it ever to occur to the staff (generally speaking) that the job is the reason why they can assert themselves in their personal endeavours…as a husband, brother, sister, wife, whatever and then the very well being of their families depend on this ’job’?”

It has been almost over 5 years since the conversation took place. But that had set me off to find out what contributed to the gentleman’s statement. My company conducted independent surveys, did some systematic research, spoke to HR professionals, promoters of a few organizations, and even studied the cultural changes that were happening in the Indian society in general and the Indian professional settings in particular. The first thing that we noticed was that the Indian professional environment had drastically changed as the Indian shores were opening up to globalization and had seen a sudden influx of young professionals who had entered the scenario armed with business specializations

This paradigm shift created a ‘do or die’ philosophy in the erstwhile almost laid back business practices. As the global practices began finding routes, concepts of multi tasking, 24 x 7 availability of working executives via the internet became standard norms. However, we also realized that while the highlight was on performance, somewhere along the line the concept of human element was taking the back seat. As highly professional HR tools were employed almost nobody noticed the phasing out of this most vital element of the Indian Social fabric. The ‘paralysus respectus’ for these imported models was so high that human element was considered to be an outdated Indian idiosyncrasy and was often ridiculed. The earlier failures of organizations, that brought their practices here to India and tried to incorporate them without regard to the ‘Indian-ness’; went unnoticed.

At these thoughts, I always pose myself and others who might be interested in hearing me out, a question… “Why is this ‘today’s professional’ who is apparently so successful, so stressed out? And why does he/she even on the long awaited weekends and during vacations behave as if there is no tomorrow… trying to grab at as much as he/she can?”

I always wonder if someone will give me a really truthful answer rather than the standard lip service about how much more stress & competition exists presently and how a weekend is really needed..? To understand their view point, I went on a family weekend with other young professionals & their families. And let me tell you I felt as if we were on a roller coaster even when we were ‘supposed’ to be having a couple of drinks and dinner! By the time we returned I was exhausted! And I am not saying there were any physically demanding activities…in fact there were none whatsoever! That is when one realized that presently we have become so stressed out in what is supposed to be a joy…our work, our profession; that we have stopped looking for joy in what we do! Has it then remained only a means to earn money so that we can have all the trappings and weekends when we all claw at what is available and ‘purchasable’? Have we ever sat back and tried to ‘understand’ how we really feel on a Monday morning after the so called ‘weekend’?

Only last month a HR manager asked me what can I do in the areas of stress management. She also explained that the organizations’ staff had obviously undergone a few stress management modules that included outdoor activities like rock climbing, and such other adventure sports. Nothing wrong really… For, such extreme physical activities are a great stress buster.

While all these activities are good for the desired result, aren’t these kind of ‘for-the-time-being-solutions’?

Shouldn’t stress management like any other training; begin at the ‘Beginning’ with ever HR Manager asking the question, “How can I turn every staff member into a ‘daughter-in-law’? I know it is a slow process but then, an employee is an asset to be nurtured for a longer race… Till then, here is the write up

Submission and author : Vishwas Vaishampayan ~ Creative Ventures, Pune for Never Grow Up