Porter: Of the People, by the People, for the People: Work Culture Done Right!
Culture is about doing things together with passion and getting a group to invest, participate and believe in something together. From the work perspective it can be described as the office environment being ‘just right’ ! A healthy and balanced work culture is like a perfect cup of tea. It’s a precise mix with all the correct ingredients, more felt than seen. Culture therefore is multi-dimensional. It expresses the ideas, belief systems, values, interests, experiences and behaviors shared by people in the organization.
The qualities that a healthy work culture exudes are honest and open lines of communication, a relaxed, productive and empowered environment, minimum micro management, mutual respect and positive reinforcement. The focus is primarily on employee well being (mental and physical), inculcating positive values and a general commitment to excellence. A company that attempts to strike a balance between productivity and the happiness quotient of its employees has the perfect work environment.
Here at Porter, we succeeded at not only disrupting the logistics business with our unique tech-enabled framework, but are also taking big strides towards being a 360-degree employee-centric company. Porter recently stood 9th in the ‘Workplace Experience Ranking Survey’ powered by Culturro in partnership with Business World. We believe in cultivating a work environment that encourages employees to work in an intellectual and qualitative environment which boosts productivity and individuality. It helps employees achieve professional growth and henceforth promote the growth of the Organisation along the way.
Rizwan Khan, VP Operations who has been a part of Porter for 3 years now shares “ The process of approval, planning and testing new things is way longer in other companies. Porter allows you to express yourself freely, pursue different avenues and grow how you want to! The Co-founders have established the kind of environment that makes you comfortable where people are readily approachable. The atmosphere is friendly and nurturing with no red tape and there is good camaraderie within the organisation”. He adds “Policies if anything are employee friendly with the office having no specified working hours, frequent company outings and a healthy leave policy. You do not have to wait for a forum to express yourself. The organisation is flexible in its approach where individuals have the capacity to question anyone’s decision with a healthy ‘why are we doing this’ curiosity. Everyone believes in an equally contributing culture. Since we are new we do not have a defined culture and consistently strive to formulate and shape ourselves in a healthy manner. I believe we are a hearty ‘Work in progress’ when we talk about our culture.”
Sandeep Sule, HR and Administration Head at Porter acknowledges and adds “We are always attempting to indulge in best practices implementation despite being merely four years old. We encourage employee Referrals, promote women friendly work space wherein cab facility is provided post 8:00 pm. We provide in house unlimited snacks(open pantry 24/7 keeping in mind employee preferences like nutella, fruits, juices, cookies and other such fun options). For frequent team dinners and outings we allocate separate budgets; similarly, for rewards and recognition programs we sponsor luxury holidays for our best performing employees. We do not have cabin culture in office and the work-space is open and collaborative. We communicate on a first name basis implementing a thoroughly de-colonized culture. So we have no ma’am’s and sir’s in the Organization! We are also consistently working on building a culture of trust over the years with 100% employee ownership”.
Pallavi Gupta, Senior HR Manager corroborates adding “In order to build a culture of trust and sociability we have fun practices like Reverse Induction,break out room with FIFA tournaments, Game of Thrones screening after hours, book reading, board game tournaments etc. Employees have the freedom to pursue their own hobbies freely. Work from home option is also available for eligible employees. We have a ‘No dress code Policy’ so seeing our Co-Founders in tracksuits is no surprise for us at all! We also have a transparent, fair and robust performance management system with a mechanism where employees are well aware of their performance track with regular and healthy check-ins. Despite having such a cool and flexible culture we do not compromise on any of our core values. Most importantly, we have zero tolerance for sexual or other kinds of harassment and the office culture enforces this strictly”.
Pankaj Shroff, VP Finance and Accounts confirms saying “Porter is a safe place to work and the employees are genuinely cared for. There was a time when there were a lot of negativity about start-ups, so we made sure that all the payments and salaries are always made on time. Porter is employee and learning centered. You are allowed to make mistakes as long as you learn from them. Company ethos is such that the management appreciates trying new things and learning from them. This learning oriented system supports an empowering environment which conditions you to try new things in new ways. Disrupting the existing system is highly encouraged. Porter supports a culture with absolute individual autonomy.”
Pawan Seerwani, Staff Engineer concludes, “Porter has no bureaucracy at all and you don’t have to go through procedures. It’s like a set of friends working on an awesome product. Teams are small so you have many areas to work on and end up learning a lot! Dimensions of work are huge with tech people having the potential to work in product and vice-versa. You are allowed to ask questions and re-evaluate things together. The whole atmosphere is highly research oriented. Pool of talent is amazing. People listen and guide each other and feel in their element here because you can see the impact you are making everyday and that is a truly incredible feeling!”
Work culture therefore expresses the character and personality of an Organization and includes its values, traditions, beliefs, interactions, behaviors, and attitudes. Our work culture ensures that the employees feel respected and a sense of belonging because respect can only be earned not bought! We firmly believe that positive leadership is also one of the biggest pillars on which a healthy work culture stands. Our five values are integrity, impact, ownership, curiosity and empathy. We ensure that all of these values are always followed and lived by! Working at Porter we believe is not a job, its an experience. Wouldn’t you like to be a part of this experience too!?
(Porter is India’s market leader in tech enabled logistics with more than 10,000 driver partners, across 5 cities. Established in 2014 , Porter plans to set golden standards not only for Indian logistics but also for employee centrality and 100% partner and customer compliance & satisfaction. We want our three pillars which are customers, employees and partners to find happiness and meaning in what they/we do together!
(Of the People, by the People, for the People is part of a continuing series in the Porter Blog where we will be sharing employee engagement techniques, experiences and practices.We strongly believe in being the change we want to see! Be a part of this change.To know more visit https://porter.in/ ).
