16

Making an organisation a desired place to work should be high on an employer’s list. BE’s Ankita Chakraborty spoke to Asif Upadhye, Director and Chief Fun Officer, Never Grow Up, about how his organisation works.

Q. What made you come up with a firm like Never Grow Up?

A. Coming from a non-traditional background and running the corporate race, we realised that there is a serious disconnect between what we think work will be and what it really turns out to be for us. Research shows that engaged and happy employees are more productive and tend to stay longer. They are more profitable, more customer-focused and more likely to withstand temptations to leave. While conventional wisdom suggests that pressure enhances performance, real-time data shows that workers perform better when they are happily engaged in what they do. Realising the gravity of this, we launched Never Grow Up in 2010 as an employee engagement, employer branding and work culture firm that partners with human resources and business leaders to create an admirable culture and happy workplace.

Q. Why the name ‘Never Grow Up’?

A. As a company, we have always believed in keeping the child within us alive by promoting the right culture at work. It’s imperative to ensure that as children, companies too display the qualities of being innovative, creative, and fearless and possess a strong sense of ownership that drives employees. We also feel that many companies continue to look at their people purely as a cost centre and not as an investment. It is this basic thought that we strive to change.

Q. As an entrepreneur, what were your struggles? How successful is your venture today?

A. We faced varied challenges as we were an idea led start-up in the service space. The challenges were more as this was a rare business idea. Most of our learnings were through trial and error experiments but they have helped us fine tune our services. The first six months were about un-learning and re-learning the rules of the business, evaluating our core ideas and more importantly, convincing clients about our services. There were days when as an entrepreneur, I felt that the grass is greener on the other side. But with a passionate team and understanding clients backing our moves, the journey has been a joy ride.

We started off as a venture, which would help employers engage with their people. Today, we are an integrated product and services firm for organisations seeking to build an admirable work culture that attracts and retains talent by providing an  array of services. Since our inception, we have worked across diverse sectors like BFSI, NBFC, logistics, retail, fashion,  media and entertainment, IT, real estate and automobiles among others. We have touched the lives of over 150,000 employees.

Q. Could you give a glimpse of the services provided by Never Grow Up? How does it provide a positive impact to the clients you work with?

A. At Never Grow Up, each service has been crafted integrating elements that help to drive happiness at work. Our services range from happiness surveys to customised training interventions, internal communications, CSR strategy and digital content. From engagement strategies to execution calendars and implementation support, we have a box full of options that are sure to brighten your day. We firmly believe that by taking action and making ‘employee happiness’ a priority, organisations can excel in areas where challenges and problems have been the norm. After all, it is the people that run businesses. You take care of them and they in turn, take care of the work.  

Q. Was there any governmental relief when you started the company?

A. None actually.

Q. What is the success strategy of Never Grow Up? And what are your future-plans?

A. The success roadmap for Never Grow Up includes hiring the right talent, syncing in with the market trends, respecting clients and making an in depth analysis of people behavior at work. Never Grow Up was awarded the recognition of the ‘Best Employer Branding Consultant’ and ‘The Best HR Communications Partner’ at the Asia Pacific HRM Congress 2017. We have also recently launched ‘Happiness Quotient’, which is a customised tool that helps to identify employee happiness across levels within an organisation. We have also been recognised as the Best Employee Engagement Service Provider at World HRD Congress Awards 2017 and 2016.