Work culture-a reality check

The journey from classmates to colleagues

The work culture should consist of a lot of variable things, it should first consist of learning, it should consist of giving back to the employees, it should consist of team building activities, it should consist of enhancing and leading the people within not giving directions.

It should also be the fact that they should be made into leaders where they can be given bigger and better roles where they can be challenged continuously where it does not become monotonous or mind-numbing. At the end of the day that is all a great wide work culture because it feeds into the company.

When you have great people you have a great company without great people there is no great company and you can’t just get great people it is the work culture that makes great people

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Life is all about a move, a move which reorganises our lives. From kindergarten to high school and then there to college, we work our ways to achieve small milestones. And all these investments that we make in ourselves pays off the day we get the first placed in a field of choice. At this point in life, we are flooded with a mix of different emotions – confidence, enthusiasm, nervousness, et al.

One of the biggest transitions we all make is when we shift from being a student to being a professional in our fields of interest. This is the point where the second innings of our life begins, opening avenues for new opportunities. Here are a few life excerpts that talk the transition from academics to professional life with their expectations and in reality what they get.

Swetha Sudheesh, a Class XII student of Narayana Junior College has a very obvious and a well-defined expectation from a professional life. She says, “I would want to work for a company where I see my talent being appreciated.

It should be a friendly atmosphere to work in where the work should not hinder my personal life. There shouldn't be any kind of discrimination. Growth opportunities are important. Promotions should be purely based on merit with a good salary hike. The office should be a place where I look forward to going everyday where I should feel comfortable and where I should be excited to go every day.”

Defining a great work culture that would help out job aspires for an organisation, Aditya Mankani, the founder and the CEO of Social DNA, one of the top digital marketing agency says – the work culture should consist of a lot of variable things, it should first consist of learning, it should consist of giving back to the employees, it should consist of team building activities, it should consist of enhancing and leading the people within not giving directions.

It should also be the fact that they should be made into leaders where they can be given bigger and better roles where they can be challenged continuously where it does not become monotonous or mind-numbing. At the end of the day that is all a great wide work culture because it feeds into the company. When you have great people you have a great company without great people there is no great company and you can’t just get great people it is the work culture that makes great people.

Exposing more of expectation and the reality of the work culture, Snehit Yadav, a Graphic Designer whose creative work well defines his work life, says, “Work culture for example for college graduates and they looking for a job, first thing they are freshers so there should be seniors around them where there is a lot of learning to happen, the senior should be helpful, as newcomers don’t know how the practical work though they are skilled with lot of work related activities and whatever they are doing.

Any job they are doing they should be under somebody like a buddy. So the first thing a job aspirer should look at is not the comforts of the office but definitely a guru who can teach them enhance their skills to a professional level. It’s not about just doing the given work but it’s about learning whatever work you are assigned for”.

“Work is secondary first you should be buddying with people because a buddy can teach you more about the work than any other. And once when they are refined they should hit the projects. There should be transparency in everything to give a wider experience to the employees.

And obviously, an employee should feel more like in college when they are at work. It’s also quiet similar like the time for lunch, log in time or log out time, which is a mandatory everywhere whether you are in college or at work. And after all these the best work culture is when you are free to do what you are hired for and new creative ideas should be appreciated by your seniors.

And also its very important to have weekly discussions like team meetings among the employees with the presence of the boss to figure out the problems faced or to witness a very good team to solve those problems”, Snehit adds.

Talking about the group discussions and other activities that regularly happen at work place Snehit says, “When in a group discussion where everybody comes up, they discuss new things, trends and other things which could be very new for one another.

It shouldn’t be a place of corporate where you are not heard by your seniors but only told to do things which are no for a work culture. There should be a session where each and everybody gets a chance to learn something. So when seniors are talking there should be more of listening than talking where sharing of senior’s experience is also very important. With a smile, he says there should be salary and coffee on time”.

Sometimes at work you might get tea instead of coffee, you might not get a very comfortable chair to sit, your workplace might not be in the centre of the city, you might not get all the incentives of the Silicon Valley but you get the best learning there and a freedom to show your talent and creative ideas with the best persons who had built a company collecting every piece needed. And at the end of the day, you will be satisfied with the work you did and there is no great feeling other than personal satisfaction.

By: Vikash Singh