– Sukhdeep Aurora, Chief People Officer
From the time of inception of ANAROCK 5 years ago the promoters and the start up team were clear that our culture would be our differentiator. We adopted the tagline ‘Values Over Value’ (VOV) which is attached inseparably to our name and were determined that it would be a living declaration of the culture we stand for.
We knew that we need to ensure that our values are cascaded down the line to every employee in the Company, so that regardless of which culture they came from, they had to own, embrace, and live ANAROCK’s culture.
All Diversity, Ethics and CSR initiatives at ANAROCK are led by our dedicated Chief Evangelist – Culture, a seasoned and experienced business professional.
Our ‘Empower Diversity’ program which works on sensitization about the business imperative of Diversity and runs programs to increase and nurture diversity. We celebrate October as the ‘Inclusion Month’ which we start with renewing our inclusion pledge, led by the Chairman on a Pan India Zoom call.
All Aboard
Our HR policies are unstintingly fair, transparent, inclusive, and empowering. We are an Equal Opportunity employer committed to diversity, equality, and inclusion. Our recruitment policies are totally agnostic to religion, ethnicity, caste, colour, age, gender, or sexual orientation.
Even our Mediclaim cover includes same sex partners, and the quantum of cover provided is the same for the Chairman down to the junior-most employee. We have higher payment slabs for our hiring partners to help us hire diverse talent.
Our employees ranging from ages 24 to 68, and we never ask or record anyone’s religious faiths or ethnicity of our employees. All we focus on is hiring relevant and potential talent.
We have policies which cater to the specific needs of women, at different stages of their lifecycle, as well as a gradual return to work policy that, when needed, affords flexibility for employees to come back to work in a staggered manner.
Given the unique and fast-paced nature of technology work at ANAROCK, we have created a special ‘Career Break Policy’ for ANAROCK’s large technology team. We understand that employees manage competing priorities, and this policy has been developed to enable them to take an extended period of unpaid leave from work to balance their careers with other commitments, responsibilities, and interests.
Collaboration
ANAROCK was an early adopter of the open office format infused with smart collaboration hubs which has helped foster a collaborative culture par excellence and caters to the sensibilities of our Gen Next workforce. It has been a key differentiator to achieve better productivity and employee retention.
Wellness
‘Amigo’, our confidential 3rd party 24/7 counselling helpline for our employees and their families, offer any support they might require. Our mentorship program has seen over 65 high potential employees being mentored by senior leadership over the last 5 years.
CSR
CSR is a part of an employee’s life at ANAROCK. Quarterly CSR activities are conducted at a Pan India level and at the city level, our CSR champions do CSR activities regularly. Activities include blood donation drives, ‘Swachh Bharat’ initiatives, visits to children’s shelters and homes for the aged, etc.
Last Diwali, our Mumbai team provided food to all the workers at sites where we were engaged. A total of 5000 workers were fed that day. We also have a ‘give as you earn’ program where an employees can opt to donate some amount from their monthly salary for a selected NGO. Anarock matches what the employees donate and hence doubles the amount that employees give.
A Tech-driven People Approach
The inhouse Learning and Development team has developed tailor-made training programs for our sales teams to suit our business model. Leadership is encouraged to pursue training at leading institutes in India and abroad.
We continually invest in technology solutions to bring efficiencies in our internal processes (HRIS for HR, sales CRM for all sales related processes, SAP finance system), make information available to employees across the organization, provide an engaging tech-driven environment for remote or hybrid teams, and enable employees to own their own development.
A New Age mobile app hosts training videos in engaging gamified formats built on a ‘Netflix principle’ to provide varied content for employees to choose and consume at their convenience.
Keeping Employees Motivated
We believe that fun and work must always coexist for optimal employee morale. A recent example – in July 2022, the Firm sponsored a motorcycle expedition to Leh Ladakh. This just is one of the many ways ANAROCK keeps employees engaged.
We regularly invite celebrities and industry stalwarts to share life tips and business viewpoints with our employees. Our townhalls invariably end with such interactions and are a much-anticipated feature.
During our quarterly and annual townhalls, we also recognize and reward exemplary achievements – adding a innovative touch by also involving awardees’ family members of the awardees.
All in all, ANAROCK is a 100% people-focused company, and we invest heavily in our employees at all levels and stages. This has regularly helped us to obtain, retain and foster the greatest talent in the real estate industry value-chain.
