On 23rd February, we had the pleasure of attending the Property Week ‘Best Places to Work in Property Awards 2018’, alongside some of the most exciting and progressive companies working in the industry at present. And what a time we had!
The day consisted of two parts: the first a lively panel session on how to improve the wellbeing of employees and optimise your workplace, with some of the property industry’s top dogs (including our CEO Tushar!) having their say. From the importance of diversity in teams to debating the benefits of private vs open plan offices, all the key questions facing the industry were up for discussion.
Then, following a champagne reception and excellent three-course dinner, the winners of awards in each of the chosen metrics were announced. Out of eight in total, we’re extremely proud that even alongside the 52 highly successful companies that were shortlisted, we won the following four:
- Culture and Communication;
- Role Satisfaction;
- Relationship with Supervisor; and
- Training and Development.
As our mission is to create a world where everyone loves where they work, we’re honoured to be recognised for our efforts starting right at home!
Here’s a little insight from Tushar as to what makes us different:
On empowerment and empathy
Tushar: Our office culture is built around the values of our business: empowerment, experience and empathy. We want to empower our team to do their best work without micro-management and strict hierarchies and make sure they have a great experience in the office. We hope that our own office can help each member of our team understand what makes a good or bad office. As we deal with small and medium-sized businesses like ourselves every day, we believe this helps us empathise with our customers and help build a product and service which enables them to love where they work.
On work environment and office culture
Tushar: For us, ‘tech start-up culture’ means an open-minded work environment, where people’s ideas can be turned into reality quicker than in a corporate environment. Tech is the enabler for doing that. We believe that this culture has helped us hire some of the smartest and creative people in the world and given them an environment where they can work with purpose, autonomy, and mastery.
On being friends first, colleagues second
Tushar: Whilst this culture is starting to become synonymous with office perks such as sleeping pods, table tennis, pool tables, beer taps etc. and our office does have those things, we believe they are the means to an end of fostering a culture of togetherness, getting to know our colleagues on a personal level and building an amazing company. We do these things because we hope that our team will become friends first, colleagues second. Those companies that just throw office perks at their staff without building a meaningful work environment are fighting a losing battle.
On casual office culture
Tushar: If we were to go to desktop computers, suits and ties and so on then I certainly think that productivity and output would be affected as we would struggle to retain a motivated staff. More so, we would be worse at our job as our work environment would be at odds with that of most of our customers, so we would struggle to empathise with them as we do now.
It was a pleasure to attend such an exciting event and be in the same room as so many inspirational people and companies who are taking the property industry by storm. Thank you very much once again to Property Week – we promise to keep up the good work!
