"Startup Mindset" Remains An Important Talent Pulling Factor

In a survey In the United States, 1 in 3 millennials currently choose to work at startups over large corporations. Apart from offering excellent facilities great fun, startups often give employees freedom in terms of selection dress code, flexible working hours, and options working remotely.

In addition to the above factors, startups are considered to offer a dynamic work environment, the opportunity to voice ideas, contribute freely individually, and make it easy to carry out work without bureaucratic constraints and rigid management structures.

The flexibility offered creates opportunities for advancement and the opportunity to rapidly advance their career ladder. On the other hand, the corporate career concept usually has a more rigid path and a long and tortuous process.

However, along with the development of the company, the seeds of bureaucracy emerged. Those who have thousands of employees and have unicorn status or centaur seems to be starting to leave the essence or distinctive taste of a startup and start operating like a corporation.

Startup culture is still in demand

Even though they enjoy complete facilities and provide opportunities to learn a lot, several testimonials from employees or former employees of unicorn startups claim that companies of this size are increasingly seen leaving the essence of startups and starting to implement a corporate-style work system.

"The minus of working with big startups is that management has started to turn towards corporations so that more and more layer for approval and individual contributions are starting to be felt and tend to be seen, even though the company still appreciates the work of each employee," said a former employee Gojek, who chose not to be named, to DailySocial.

Currently he chooses to work at a startup that is still on a small scale and is still pioneering to become big. He claims that the startup is still prioritizing flat hierarchy, so that there is no seniority and everyone can provide opinions, ideas and contributions to the company.

"In addition, individual contributions to the company are more visible and felt if you are in a small startup because the number of employees is still small.explore so we can learn more new things."

Tinneke, who works at Block 71, has a different opinion. According to him, many digital talents still want to enjoy a dynamic work atmosphere by prioritizing the startup mentality in their daily lives.

If the startup is not able to apply the concept work-life balance, the company can accommodate the concept work-life integration, namely the freedom for employees to enjoy the work they do without prohibiting employees from having fun outside of working hours. Employees are also encouraged to carry out their hobbies, especially those related to passion those in the community and startup world.

"Our company still applies the essence of a startup to this day. In particular, startups are known for their fast-paced and straightforward work style and this is our company culture that has not changed until now. We always ask ourselves what's new, what's exciting so we are always challenged to create product innovations or new ways of working," said Tinneke.

The same applies to UangTeman's management. It is claimed that UangTeman still applies the spirit of a startup company because the company culture is still very fluid. Although there is still a formal line of coordination with team leader, employees also make it possible to discuss informally with anyone, including company leaders.

"At UangTeman, management is very concerned about employee productivity at work. The dynamic work demands of startups are balanced by the provision of adequate supporting facilities, including entertainment facilities such as gaming room, pool table, karaoke rooms, to sleeping pods. This facility can be used whenever needed by employees to be able to complete work according to deadlines," said Dimas, an employee of UangTeman.

Meanwhile, according to Yunnie, who currently works at AnyMind Group, a Japanese technology company operating in Indonesia, employees are given the opportunity to take the initiative, especially for the development of the company and each individual in it. Through this process, employees learn a lot to be responsible for the freedom given and the company always supports every initiative taken in order to produce output appropriate.

"I believe with an organized structure in the company is at the right stage for that, where companies that still have 'startup mindset' encourage employees to develop. Growing not only means in numbers or numbers, but can also deliver value every step of the way."

Unicorn startup guide

For Bukalapak, the concept work-life balance become a form of implementation that aims to support growth without leaving the essence and spirit of working in a startup company.

Bukalapak Chief of Talent Bagus Harimawan said:

"We believe that work-life balance It is important for the company to maintain and increase employee productivity. Basically, work-life balance not only the responsibility of the company and employees, but also the collaboration process between the company and employees to create a balance in the scope of work. Companies can provide support for this creation through facilities that can support this."

He continued, "Bukalapak sees talent as a very important asset. This is what underlies our principle that talent at Bukalapak must have agility mindset and skill set to be able to adapt to needs and face business challenges in order to continue to innovate to produce products / features that answer the needs of Bukalapak users and more broadly, have a positive impact on the lives of Indonesian people."

Meanwhile, according to CHRO Gojek Monica Oudang, although it has grown bigger, Gojek claim to still apply bottom-up initiative. The company tries to encourage the team to come up with ideas, while the leader is in charge of protecting, providing insight and direction, and encourage continuous innovation.

What was it alluded to? Gojek as a technology company, they have started to implement corporate-style management and leave the startup culture behind, Monica said, Gojek believes that corporate culture is driven by leadership. The company encourages leaders to embrace their teams, encourages teams not to be afraid to make mistakes, and dare to take responsibility for mistakes.

Monica said:

"One of the values ​​of the company we have built is be fast and fearless, which aims to provide opportunities for anyone to innovate and contribute but for the benefit and progress of the organization."

- Amir Karimuddin contributed to writing this article