There’s room for work and play
At this lingerie company, employees organise zumba classes and play indoor cricket in their spacious set up
Walk into Zivame’s corporate office in Domlur on the first floor of a modest-looking building and the first thing that hits you is the wide expanse. The 24,000 sq ft open office houses 200 employees from their logistics, merchandising, tech, finance, marketing and brand teams. What’s interesting is that they have no cabins for team heads; they sit with their respective teams at the same table. “This helps in better bonding, camaraderie and collaboration. In the offices I’ve worked in earlier, people always complained that the HR is not visible. No one can complain about that here,” says Saravanan Muralidharan, director – human resources.
The office spread across two floors is WiFi-enabled so the employees can work from anywhere – the cafeteria, front desk or the designated play area. Yes, there’s a full-fledged play area for the employees to de-stress. It has a foosball table, a basketball ring, a dartboard and a carom board. On the fourth floor, an open space of 36,000 sq ft (which was earlier their warehouse before it was shifted near Tumkur Road) is used for indoor cricket and weekly zumba classes. “Someone suggested we slot 4-6pm for games but I was against it. We don’t want to enforce anything,” Muralidharan says.
If that’s not cool enough, they have various rooms with pun-intended lines etched on the doors like Under-wired (for the server room), Push up your confidence and Shape-up your ideas for huddle rooms and Behind the seams for their in-house studio. The meeting rooms meant for interviews are called Explore your inside out, Stick on to your guns, Don’t fit in, speak up! Relax, everythong will flow seamlessly! The cafeteria, meanwhile, is labelled For full corset meal or a cup of coffee.“These lines were coined in half an hour by our brand team,” Muralidharan adds. For young employees like Pragyee Jaiman, 22, senior executive with the design team, it’s the perfect environment. “I’ve been here only a month but every day is exciting and I look forward to work when I wake up. It’s a happy feeling,” she says.
With their work force between the ages of 22-38 and a diversity ratio of 50:50 (men and women), the company also has a roster of innovative activities. They have something called the Lingerie fest where every female employee must get ‘fitted’ after they join the company. That’s not all; they also have body mapping to figure out different body types. “The idea may seem weird at first but the experts make you feel really comfortable and this is like a study done before we come up with a product,” explains Veena Shree, 23, senior executive with the brand team.
What sounds fun though are their pyjama parties for which employees turn up in their night wear. There’s an annual Zivame carnival where they set up a selfie booth, invite magicians and give away funky props to the employees “in order to break the ice and bring all the teams together. But we don’t necessarily spend a lot for this,” Muralidharanadmits.During major sporting events, the office brings their work to the cafeteria where an LCD TV is put up and unlimited popcorn served. Sounds like a place where play is as important as work.
Walk into Zivame’s corporate office in Domlur on the first floor of a modest-looking building and the first thing that hits you is the wide expanse. The 24,000 sq ft open office houses 200 employees from their logistics, merchandising, tech, finance, marketing and brand teams. What’s interesting is that they have no cabins for team heads; they sit with their respective teams at the same table. “This helps in better bonding, camaraderie and collaboration. In the offices I’ve worked in earlier, people always complained that the HR is not visible. No one can complain about that here,” says Saravanan Muralidharan, director – human resources.
The office spread across two floors is WiFi-enabled so the employees can work from anywhere – the cafeteria, front desk or the designated play area. Yes, there’s a full-fledged play area for the employees to de-stress. It has a foosball table, a basketball ring, a dartboard and a carom board. On the fourth floor, an open space of 36,000 sq ft (which was earlier their warehouse before it was shifted near Tumkur Road) is used for indoor cricket and weekly zumba classes. “Someone suggested we slot 4-6pm for games but I was against it. We don’t want to enforce anything,” Muralidharan says.
If that’s not cool enough, they have various rooms with pun-intended lines etched on the doors like Under-wired (for the server room), Push up your confidence and Shape-up your ideas for huddle rooms and Behind the seams for their in-house studio. The meeting rooms meant for interviews are called Explore your inside out, Stick on to your guns, Don’t fit in, speak up! Relax, everythong will flow seamlessly! The cafeteria, meanwhile, is labelled For full corset meal or a cup of coffee.“These lines were coined in half an hour by our brand team,” Muralidharan adds. For young employees like Pragyee Jaiman, 22, senior executive with the design team, it’s the perfect environment. “I’ve been here only a month but every day is exciting and I look forward to work when I wake up. It’s a happy feeling,” she says.
And though they have huddle rooms, the team heads prefer having their meetings in an open sit-out area on the first floor which has been divided into three units. So, while one section is laid out like a lawn adorned with a turf mat and park benches,another area has chessboard-like seats and a square centre table and the third nook has a sophisticated sofa set.
With their work force between the ages of 22-38 and a diversity ratio of 50:50 (men and women), the company also has a roster of innovative activities. They have something called the Lingerie fest where every female employee must get ‘fitted’ after they join the company. That’s not all; they also have body mapping to figure out different body types. “The idea may seem weird at first but the experts make you feel really comfortable and this is like a study done before we come up with a product,” explains Veena Shree, 23, senior executive with the brand team.
What sounds fun though are their pyjama parties for which employees turn up in their night wear. There’s an annual Zivame carnival where they set up a selfie booth, invite magicians and give away funky props to the employees “in order to break the ice and bring all the teams together. But we don’t necessarily spend a lot for this,” Muralidharanadmits.During major sporting events, the office brings their work to the cafeteria where an LCD TV is put up and unlimited popcorn served. Sounds like a place where play is as important as work.
