GPTW

   In conversation with Ms. Shuba Vaani
   Senior Manager - Welfare, HR

Tell us about Brigade’s corporate culture?
Organisational culture is the essence of any company – indeed it constitutes the personality of a company, and it outlines the environment in which employees thrive. Brigade as a company has been a trend-setter in many ways, not only do we have a clear and well-defined vision and mission, but we also possess an inherent belief that our employees’ well-being and satisfaction is the key to organisational growth. This in turn translates into genuine warmth and consideration shown to employees at every level, which eventually results in what we call ‘Happiness at work’. We take this very seriously at Brigade.

You have received the ‘Great Place to Work’ Award six years in a row. Tell us a bit about the award?
The ‘Great Place to Work’ Award is the result of an annual survey conducted by Great Place to Work Institute in collaboration with The Economic Times. As part of ‘India’s Best Companies to Work for - 2016’ study, about 800 organisations across industries participated and over 1,55,119 employees were surveyed, making it the largest survey of workplace cultures in corporate India.Organisations were evaluated on two parameters: First a unique employee-centric framework that measured the levels of Trust, Pride and Camaraderie prevalent. Second, a questionnaire that sought to understand the people practices, philosophy and values. Brigade has been participating in these surveys for the last six years. In 2015 and 2016 we were ranked No. 1 in the real estate category and No. 28 and No. 39 respectively in the overall list. This has been possible only because of teamwork. We started participating in this survey in 2011 and we have always been ranked among the top three companies in the real estate category. We are the only real estate company to be among the Top 50 companies in India and it is really an honour to be listed along with legendary ‘Employee Culture Companies’ like Google, Marriott, SAP Labs, Hyatt, Cisco and Adobe, among several others.

What are some of the best practices that you have adopted, that has led to this recognition?
There are several, but let me talk about some of the important practices. 

Celebrating every little milestone - At Brigade, we believe every milestone is a small step to building a glorious future, which is why we make it a point to celebrate every little success, no matter how small.

Employee development - Our commitment to employee growth and development is firm. Our belief is that every employee has the ability to grow and contribute to the overall advancement of the company. Our mentoring process, structured technical training programme, team building & bonding programme and several other employee programmes are all designed with one objective in mind - to provide the best environment for our employees to learn and grow.

Open door policy - We believe in trust and transparency across all levels of the organisation. Several programmes are designed to help employees express themselves and share their ideas: As a part our endeavour to connect better with our employees, we make it a point to meet employees one-on-one. This allows them to share their grievances and suggestions. At Brigade, this is a continuous process and one that we take great pride in.

So where do you go from here?
Building a strong and enviable employee culture is an ongoing process. While we have a lot to be proud of, we cannot rest on our past successes, especially in a dynamic and fast changing business environment. What we have learnt in our journey so far is that fostering a welcoming and energetic workplace can have immense positive impact, both on employee morale and for company growth. As the company soars to greater heights, it becomes imperative to build on our strengths. Recently we adopted a new tagline ‘Building Positive Experiences’. To us, it is not about external customers alone; if we are able to provide our employees a positive working experience, every working day, that would be an achievement in itself.

Brigade retains No. 1 Rank as India’s Best Real Estate Company to Work for in 2016. The Brigade Team with the GPTW Award.