Tag: office space

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Kharcha paani

Start ups: Plan small, reap big

Start ups should not be too ambitious in scope, despite regular funding. Keep your goal large but your scope small.
by Reyna Mathur

Jignesh Parikh runs a web solutions company in Mumbai with his college friend and partner, Ketan Joshi. The duo currently caters to about 20 national clients, and is in talks to increase their office space and staff strength this fiscal. “We have been in business for 10 years now, and it is this year that we are going to increase our office size for the first time. Till now we have been operating from a 10×20 space, which has a low rent and maintenance costs. We have been fortunate to receive so much business despite only five staff members for so long,” Jignesh says.

Despite the modest nature of their office, their business is experiencing a turnover of Rs 6 crore for the last two years. “We realised early on that we were in the digital business, which does not require a posh office. It requires a robust computer and Internet setup, so we invested our initial money in them.” Low overheads and only a minimal staff – all of them web developers, two of them freelance staffers – ensured that of the hefty profits made, only a small portion went towards payments every month. Eventually, the duo has now made enough money to move into a bigger office and hire two more full-time staff.

It is quite easy to run your own start-up provided you are clear in your mind about not wasting your resources for any reason, and are prepared to not even have the money to afford the rent on an office in the initial period. If you get a few basics right and change your approach, you can start small but have big returns on your initial investment.

You are there to do business, not to impress others. No business person in the world, unless backed by a strong funding model, has the means to have a huge staff and a posh office on ownership basis. When you start your enterprise, realise that you are starting it to realise a personal goal, and not to impress people with how big and well-equipped your office is. Many start-ups insist on putting in all their money to keep up appearances, which ultimately leads to huge losses (especially if the expected turnover doesn’t happen). For example, if you have just opened a café, don’t invest in too much imported equipment and staff. As more and more customers begin to trickle in, you can look at investing more money.

Don’t take an office if you don’t need one. Some businesses, especially freelance ones, don’t need an office set up at all. If your work requires you to travel often and take in business via meetings, you might not need a permanent office but a space to keep your computers, phones, printers etc. For a few days, try operating from your home or take up a storage space for rent. In case you need to conduct meetings, you can call them to a café. The overheads you save will help you invest in an office in the future.

Use communal office spaces. Many cities in the country are now offering start-ups and new businesses the use of ‘communal working spaces’, where a lot of entrepreneurs converge at one spot to carry out their daily work and even conduct meetings with clients. The working spaces offer a fixed spot with a computer and Internet connection for a month or longer, depending on the payment plan you select, apart from free use of the facility’s conference rooms and tea/coffee dispensers. Certain places also offer a courier service for your packages at a separate charge. At a monthly rental of not more than Rs 2,000, you get a complete office set up without any overheads.

Replicate, replicate. It is a good idea to maintain a team of experienced freelancers to do all the tasks that a full time staff can do. You will save the money you would spend on their salaries, plus they will each have their own set-up for completing the tasks. You might only have to pay for transporting certain paperwork and equipment, based on your businesses, to and from the freelancers’ postal address. If your work entails the same set of tasks to be done repeatedly (like editing technical papers), pay five freelancers to do it. The work will be replicated five times over at lower costs to you.

(Picture courtesy knowstartup.com. Image is used for representational purpose only)

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Kharcha paani

5 ways to ‘read’ your employees

You’ll know what your employees are like if you observe, communicate and listen constantly for information and read the signs.
by Reyna Mathur

Consider this situation: you are the leader of a team of young trainees, and you are entrusted with the job of finding out the strengths of each person and fit them to the correct role. How do you achieve this? Do you take one-on-one interviews and ask them point blank what role they would like to do? Or do you opt for a more creative approach to find the answers more effectively?

HR professional Mayank Shetty advises, “The best way is to get the team together for a tea session in the canteen, where we would all get to know each other’s names and break the ice. Then I would suggest a bonding activity like going for a film.” He suggests that putting a new group in a situation where they have to share information with each other and even possibly pay for travel, food and entertainment goes a long way in telling the leader about each person. “For instance, I would notice at once if somebody is unwilling to pay for food, or is not forthcoming with information when asked which film they want to see. I would also note if somebody takes more initiative and plans for the whole group.”

You might want to note these 5 potential ‘red flags’ in your employees:

1. Reserved, uncommunicative employees. There may be at least one person on the staff who is silent most of the times and prefers to be by himself even in a group. Many people suffer from shyness which is often mistaken for aloofness. Try and get the person to speak up more, but don’t get pushy. It is normal for new joinees to be quieter than the rest of the staff, but if the employee has been with the office for over six months and still does not have an office friend, it means that the person functions best when left alone and should not be forced to participate unless ready.

2. The ‘funny’ employee. Every group has at least one ‘office clown’ who can be relied on to keep the atmosphere light. This person will have a joke ready for every situation. However, observe the person’s interpersonal communication with others – does he or she make hurtful comments about the others under the guise of a joke? Does he or she make racist, sexist or obscene comments that may embarrass others? You should clearly indicate that any hurtful or vulgar conversation will not be tolerated in the office. On the other hand, if the employee is also seemingly popular with the staff on an individual level, it means he or she is a good listener and employs humour to make friends.

3. The backlog employee. Your staff will have one person who habitually carries today’s tasks over to the next working day. Observe this person’s working habits for a while to judge why this happens. It might be as simple as plain procrastination, or it may be that the person is so burdened with tasks that he or she runs out of time to complete them. Speak to them if you find that he or she doesn’t finish the work out of laziness. If you need to reassign duties to this employee, do it at the earliest before the backlog increases. If necessary, team up this person with another team member who is finicky about finishing all tasks on deadline.

4. The give-me-everybody’s-work employee. Some members of the staff like to assist others on their projects, but very soon find themselves in a situation where they are doing all the work. This sort of employee is unable to say ‘no’ and hence, gets taken advantage of by the others. Clamp down on this situation at once, and take the employee aside to know why they are doing work outside their own ambit of duties. At this point, they should be able to communicate their problem areas clearly with you, provided you create a non-threatening discussion environment. If they still cannot speak up after gently probing, it simply means that they lack the gumption to defend themselves. You should think twice before putting this person in charge of a team or a project.

5. The ‘It’s not my problem’ employee. This kind of employee cannot be a team player, because he or she does not believe in rolling up their sleeves and getting down to completing the job. Their overall outlook is that they will do only as much as they are paid to do, and will categorically refuse to assist another team member or own up responsibility for an issue. This employee will also refuse to work beyond the stipulated working hours and make excuses to skip all-nighters. The best way to get this person to be productive is to put him or her in charge of a project and convey that the team’s progress will reflect in his KRAs.

(Picture courtesy www.wsj.com. Image is used for representational purpose only)

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5 things to consider when getting a new office

We present 5 factors to consider when you get new office space, to create a good working environment for staff.
by Reyna Mathur

Many start-ups don’t have the resources to open shop in swanky locations. At least for the first two years of a start-up’s life, unless it starts doing phenomenal business from the word go, there is no option but to take up a location that suits the owner’s budget. Staff members just have to go with the working space till a bigger, better one is acquired.

Though any person will prefer to work in an upmarket, well-equipped office, many start-ups begin their professional journey as a hole in the wall. However, if the business owners go beyond only economics and look for a space that meets at least the most basic needs of employees, everybody will be happy.

Here are 5 things to consider when getting a new office space.

1.Account for the number of people you are hiring. If the nature of your business is such that staff will have only desk jobs, then you will need more seating space. Some of your staff members may have roving jobs, ie marketing and sales personnel, who will require a desk. However, you can have them share their desks with other staff when they are not at work. If possible, zero in on a space that has seating for at least two extra members in the team, plus a seat for the office boy.

2. Ensure the place has a toilet and water connection. Most offices, especially the ones located on the ground floors of residential buildings do not have water connections, so there will not be a toilet inside the office. Your staff cannot spend the day without a visit to the washroom, and they can suffer health complications because of it. However, if you find that there is simply no scope to put in a toilet in the office, find out what alternate toilet arrangements you can provide the staff. You must consider that if there is no toilet inside your office or a common facility close by, women will be the first ones to refuse to work for you.

Pantry for office3. A pantry is a must. Every office should have a small pantry space, where the staff can brew tea or heat up their lunch or afternoon snacks. If you get an office with a spacious pantry space, your staff will love you for it. People like to share their lunch with each other and sit together and gossip over their afternoon tea, so if there is space to put in a common dining table, it will be a big advantage for your office. However, if there isn’t enough space for a pantry, at least ensure that you create a space for a hot plate, a microwave oven and a storage space for Styrofoam cups, sugar cubes, soup packets, spoons, plates, forks and knives. It can simply be created by segregating a suitable corner with a partition. A small refrigerator is also a bonus.

4. Check all electricity connections. When buying or leasing out an office space, you will need electricity connections for your mains, the air-conditioner, computers, water filters (if there is a water connection), printers, scanners, etc. If there are not enough plug points for all your machinery, you might need to get the space rewired and new points created as per future use. You should also check if the existing connections and fixtures work properly and all lines have been properly earthed. Take a look around to see if there is any existing leakage – if there is, there is a chance of it causing short circuits in the monsoon season. Get it rectified before you move in.

5. Check for security. In today’s times, we have to take care to ensure that our work environments are secure and there is no internal or external threat to the staff. Do not get an office in an area that suffers power outages in the evenings, and look for well-lit access roads leading to the office. Second, inquire what security measures the building has in place for the shops and offices in its premises. An armed security guard who takes down details of all visitors to the office is a bonus. However, if there is no security provided, you can install CCTVs at the entrance door, as well as a live security access door that can be clamped down under five seconds in case of a threat from outside. It is a good idea to install biometric access systems so that only bonafide staff can enter. Also ensure that the front door is fixed with shatter-proof glass panes. Inside the office, you must ensure your employees’ safety and security from theft. If necessary, install a CCTV system to keep a watch on the office floor.

(Pictures courtesy www.alliancevirtualoffices.com, www.tripadvisor.com. Images used for representational purpose only)

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