Sunday April 6, 2008
By EUGENE NG

When we come across one of the concrete jungle’s rarest of breeds, happy employees, we are eager to find out what their employers are doing right.

Audrey Chan

IT isn’t called “the grind” for nothing. Every weekday of the year, millions of people around the world haul themselves out of bed in the early morning, battle their way through milling masses of humanity and cars, and drag themselves into that dreaded place called The Office.

The Office, for so many, is a place they’d rather not be.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. In the age of Corporate Responsibility, progressive 21st century employers are becoming increasingly aware that they not only have an ethical responsibility towards the community at large but also towards their own employees.

Smart businesses know that happy customers mean happy profits, but smarter businesses now know that happy employees mean happier profits.

In effect, any company that takes good care of its staff – not just in financial terms but also in the intangible areas of environment, acknowledgement of achievements, and a sense of reward through merit – fosters loyalty, creativity, productivity, and better communication, which in turn translates into dollars and cents.

To do this effectively, however, usually means throwing out old relationship patterns between employer and employee and finding a new way to work together. In Malaysia, one company has done just that: it threw out the traditional hierarchal system and implemented the revolutionary idea of the Flat Organisational Plan.
Syed Othman Syed Salim

DiGi Telecommunications’ CEO, Morten Lundal, implemented the revolutionary idea two years ago. Essentially, what this did was to streamline 16 levels of management to just four.

“Of course there was some resistance at first, and there were a few ‘casualties’,” says Syed Othman Syed Salim, 35, head of BBC & Product Management, and who has been at the company for six years.

“As a senior manager, I did lose some personal benefits but it also made me feel good to see that the people who once worked under me would enjoy the same benefits as me, regardless of management level. At the same time, because the system made everyone more equal, there was an increased sense of work ownership and empowerment.”

Besides this integral change, the company also took the opportunity to reinvent its work environment. When DiGi moved to its current home, D’House, located in the Subang Hi-Tech Industrial Park in Shah Alam, they eliminated the claustrophobia of cubicles and adopted an open concept to reflect the paradigm shift in its hierarchal system.
Noordiwati Razali

Employees now have no permanent desks and can choose to sit anywhere they please. Even managers and the CEO sit at desks with no walls.

“Basically, they replaced a knock on the door with a smile,” says K. Vijayakumar Raman, 43, head of Network Service Platforms at the company.

Staff are encouraged to keep workstations uncluttered, and mostly everything is done electronically, in line with the company’s green policy to reduce the unnecessary use of paper. Wireless infrastructure that allows printing and Internet access from anywhere within the building also promotes the idea of developing a “mobile workforce”.

“For me, one of the most positive aspects of this system is how it has reduced barriers and provided direct access to the bosses, which is important for what I do,” says Noordiwati Razali, 30, an associate legal counsel in the Corporate Affairs Division. “DiGi is the most progressive company I have worked for.”

Certainly, DiGi’s public face reflects this. In the past two years, it has come up with exciting and memorable commercial and marketing campaigns such as the recent ads with the now famous DiGi yellow man (which has won several awards), the Amazing Malaysians programme that honours individuals engaged in heritage preservation work, and the highly innovative Apostrophe arts project.

Much of this stems from its new corporate direction, which is one that encourages staff to take chances and to be always prepared for change.

K. Vijayakumar Raman

In the D’House car parks and on the company name cards, employees are constantly reminded of DiGi Values with statements like “Expect the unexpected”, “Inspire!”, “Time to change”, and “Dare to be different”.

“It is really motivating to work in an environment like this,” says Audrey Chan, 37, who works in the Project Management office. “At DiGi, we strive to be viewed as daring and dynamic so we don’t just talk the talk, we try to walk the walk too.”

Agrees Syed Othman: “DiGi has a culture that encourages change. It also allows for mistakes to be made so people dare to be more creative and take chances; we are allowed to have a voice and each voice is heard.

“There is definitely a high level of transparency. We can even go to our bosses’ boss if we need to. And after that, we can even go to the press if we wanted. The company will not hold that against us if it’s done justly.”

Even in more mundane, subtle areas, DiGi has striven to provide its employees with the best possible environment to work in. All employees sit on the iconic Herman Miller design classic, the Aeron chair, aesthetically pleasing, highly ergonomic, and usually reserved only for the fat cats sitting in the penthouse level of any given large corporation.

The architecture of D’House utilises clean modern lines and Scandinavian design sensibilities, has plenty of open spaces to relax in, and was built to be sympathetically integrated into the existing landscape of the site.

At the rear, there is an artificial waterfall cascading down the natural rock face of the hillock the building was built on while within its walls, walkways are lined with fresh flowers and art, creating what the company calls “living corridors”.

Even the emergency staircase is adorned with colourful murals drawn by children of the staff, so there is a palpable sense of personalisation and belonging.

“I think most people who work here do so with expectations of long-term continuity,” says Vijayakumar. “In fact, of the 45 people who resigned from DiGi last year, 15 of them now want to come back!”

DiGi’s concept of the ‘mobile office’ is truly mobile: thanks to wireless connectivity and a lack of the traditional cubicle arrangement in its offices, staff can sit wherever they’re comfortable to work or hold discussions. – DiGi

And it isn’t surprising. How many of us can resist the idea of working for a company that rewards its staff with bonuses and salary increments when it is deserved and not just at the end of a financial year? Or that gives each staff member an iPod on top of regular bonuses in a particularly good year? Where every day is casual Friday, and that not just encourages but insists that employees have a life outside of work?

“After I had my first kid last year, I wanted to stop working but they gave me a part-time position so I can now balance my home and work life,” says Chan.

“I’m the first such case here. Thing was, I didn’t even know that they would develop a part time position for me, but given the nature of the way the company operates, I just tried for it and got it. I’m really thankful to be working for a company like DiGi.”

Even to the casual observer, it is immediately obvious that DiGi operates very differently from most other corporate companies. Just last year, the company scooped up numerous awards at the Anugerah CSR Perdana Menteri in recognition of its exemplary corporate social responsibility work in the country. This included the overall Best CSR award and, more relevant here, the Best Workplace Practices award.

“To tell you the truth,” says Syed Othman, “I was really sceptical about all these changes at first, but I have to admit that I have been pleasantly surprised.

“Now, I like to compare working at DiGi to great modern companies like Google, where you have creative, dynamic, and happy employees working in a great environment. About the only thing we need now is an office chef.”