With staff retention in mind, muvee took three months to consult each of its 90 staff members or 'muvoids' about what they wanted, thereby, generating hundreds of ideas. Noteworthy, 90% of the suggestions have been incorporated in the 20,000 square ft new office spread over two floors at Singapore's BOC Plaza. Not only was the staff involved in conceptualising the design and construction, it also managed the execution of the plan. An in-house muvee team and staff volunteered to come in for weekend work parties to help install features like the audio visual equipment. With the 'muvoid' team's effort, the project was completed in about six weeks and for $500,000, some 40% under budget.
Fun, relaxing and comfortable
Philip Morgan, muvee's chief operating officer and project leader for the development of the new offices, says the objective was to create a productive, fun, relaxing and comfortable environment for 24/7 working.
"We're definitely not your average nine-to-five company," Morgan highlights. "The hours our people work are very strange, across many international time zones, including nights and weekends; we basically have people here working around the clock. We have people from overseas who come to work for us, who have no family in Singapore, so they need a workplace to make them feel at home. Since we moved into our new offices, when Singapore's economy started its latest boom, staff turnover has dropped considerably; at least halved. We favour having people on staff, rather than consultants, because creativity, collaboration and interaction between our people in the office is very important."
Comparing the staff to a football team, Morgan says, "We live or die by the talents of the people who work here. If they're not happy and they leave us, or don't feel motivated while they're here, then that's a terrible waste of our resources, so our philosophy is to put the staff first, above everything else. The cost of equipment is small compared to our payroll, which takes up to two-thirds of our turnover, so why would you scrimp on your people?' We're always very generous to our staff and cost-effectively 'mean' with everything else."
Cutting costs in various ways, but no compromise on talent
To ensure that staff has the environment that fosters creativity, muvee has mostly done away with traditional telephone handsets. The company saves hundreds of dollars a month by using the Skype on-line VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) system. Also, to save power, the air conditioning in every room in the muvee offices, can be individually adjusted, or turned off when not in use. Further, to cut down on advertising costs, it encourages its staff to help recruit new people.
"The idea of outreach, and good people knowing other good people, works very well for us. Probably our single most successful recruiting method is to get our people to refer friends, colleagues and even family members to muvee; so we pay a recruitment bounty. We have one member of staff who has earned three recruitment bonuses so far," Morgan shares.
"This is incredibly cost effective, rather than advertising in the newspapers or whatever. We've found that our staff won't introduce people who aren't any good. They'll set a benchmark, and don't bring them in just for the money because they're really putting their name on the line by sponsoring that person and vouching for them," he elaborates.
Personalised workstations
Also, as an employee-friendly office, staff members are encouraged to personalise their own workstations. One of the managers took up the offer to have her wall painted in the same pattern as her favourite shirt, Morgan shares. "When you personalise things to that level, people definitely feel a sense of ownership," he says. So that the 'muvoids' can track daily and weekly sales trends, one floor has a running 'ticker' display, similar to those showing stock prices - using codes and acronyms to describe figures, so that only muvee people know what they mean. Morgan feels that many muvee staff, even technical people, are very creative in a lot of other ways. They are keen photographers, videographers or musicians. Muvee founder, Peter Kellock, plays the French horn and fellow founder, Terence Swee, now the CEO, is also an accomplished jazz pianist, Morgan informs us.
"Our people also paint or do poetry, a whole range of things, so that's a real distinctiveness about the staff and we want to reflect that in the sort of environment that we offer to them; somewhere that's diverse, vibrant, and a fun place to be."
Buildings shape people
"I think it was Winston Churchill who once said that 'People shape buildings, then the buildings shape people. You become the office environment that you're in," he shares. The unique muvee office, with its own 'company museum' displaying product development, staff photographs and achievements, is also a valuable marketing tool.
"We've got visitors coming to visit us from all around the world and it wouldn't be optimal if we had boring, dingy premises, so, hopefully, people coming into our office see that this is a vibrant and creative media and technology company," he says. "Our cool, classy and elegant office design and layout reflects the culture and status of our company."
"We're fun, we're quirky and creative, and non-conforming to many things. Our policy is for our people not to wear a tie at work because it's just not us. Everyone here has got share options in the company, so we all feel part of a team. For us, having a nice environment makes good business sense and also, it's the right thing to do because we want out people to be happy at work. We'll spend a lot of hours here, so let's have people feeling happy, motivated and with the right resources in the right environment."
Adeline Chua, HR manager, muvee, confirms that the office environment is fun, cheerful and happy; a great place for people to work and play. "Our people are happy to come to work. They become very attached to the company and feel they're part of the family," she says.
Dress differently days
muvee also has regular special staff days to encourage creativity and flexibility. Staff was getting sick with the flu, so the company had an 'Orange Day' where they made free orange juice available and everyone could dress in orange clothes. On Global Warming Day everyone dressed in beach wear, and the air conditioning was reduced to conserve energy. And muvee's staff, Morgan says, responded with dedication and loyalty to the uniquely liberal HR approach. "Recently we had people come back to work at three in the morning because something they were working on suddenly had an unforeseen problem and the US client called in," Morgan says. "Our people all SMSed each other and said 'we'll come back' - incredible commitment - not that the company asked them to, but they said 'we're a team and let's get this fixed and done'."
Different HR approach
muvee definitely has its own perspective on HR management. "We view HR as more like managing talent rather than policing or enforcing rules on staff," Morgan says. "HR is an enabler and we're always asking 'what can we do for our people', rather than 'what can we take away'. "The best and very smartest people actually don't do their job just for the money; I'm sure many of our people could get a better paid job somewhere else, so the reason that these very good people stay around is more than their salary. It's because of a company's team spirit, the challenges of the job, the fact that they're working on stuff that may go out globally. What they do may go in a Nokia hand phone world-wide, or have millions of copies shipped with HP; that's what usually turns people on about their job. 'We like to err on the side of generosity to make sure that even people who leave us go out the door happy. We want people who move on to have fond memories."
Unique design
In what could be a model for a 21st century workplace, muvee's Singapore headquarters spare no effort in pandering to employee wishes. Together with 450 data ports for high-speed internet access, a secure former bank data centre, Lab and Server Room, the muvee offices include a 24-hour 1950s-style American rock 'n roll coffee diner, complete with a vintage Italian espresso machine with free-flowing quality coffee and snacks.
There is a 'games zone' with pool table, foosball, massage chair and gym; a steam shower room complete with washing machine and ironing facilities; a 'Napper room' where staff can lay on a reclining lounge for a power nap. One floor of the office even has its own miniature sandy beach, with lifeguard's chair, surfboards and a blazing sun. As well as 10 conference rooms and purpose-designed meeting areas, the offices feature a 25-seat sound-proofed 'muvee theatre' with a lion's head statue, modelled on the cinema in the Italian film 'Paradiso', surrounding the projector window. This theatre doubles as a video production studio and rehearsal room for the company's nine staff member band. muvee even has a special 'war room', complete with sandbags, barbed wire, camouflage netting and camouflage coloured bean bags, for developing strategy.
FACT FILE: muvee at a glance
Total number of employees: About 90
Nature of business: Technology and media
Years of business in Singapore: Six
Key customers: HP, Sony, Nikon, Nokia, Creative and LG. Recently announced a tie-up with the Warner Music Group in New York
Attrition rate: Only two resignations since December 2006
Founded: Started in Singapore in 2001, with just 8 staff
BIO BRIEF
Philip Morgan, chief operating officer has been with muvee since 2001. He started as a reporter-researcher for BBC Radio One, had technology roles with BBC TV and ITN, and national TV-am. Philip spent five years making promotions for ITV and directed news for regional broadcaster TVS. He consulted at Hong Kong's STAR TV and headed some 200 staff, at a major digital satellite TV network, also working with Arabic Television, Channel KTV, TVB (USA) and Sony Pictures Entertainment Television.