Wednesday March 25, 2015
By NISHA T. NAIDU
editor@mystarjob.com
Maxis practices an open office layout style.
This time, our search for fresh, swanky workplaces around town led us to the heart of KL, to an office right beside the tallest buildings in the country. That’s right, we’re talking about the newly made-over Maxis office.
Inside, we were greeted by Maxis head of people and organisation, Adzhar Ibrahim, who gave us a tour of the company’s vibrant and colourful environment.
The culture at Maxis
Recently, Maxis went through a transformation to change their entire office culture to head towards a transparent and flexible one, which included a major re-decorating of their interior.
“What we did was to totally revamp the structure of Maxis, by taking away the pyramids, the multiple-layers, the various levels of entitlements, job titles, levels of benefits and offices and cubicles and company cars and other items which only serve to separate people,” said Adzhar.
"Now, everybody has the same kind of benefits entitlements and workspace, desk and seat, whether you’re a CEO or the tea lady.”
One for all, all for one: Each employee at Maxis has the same kind of workstation, regardless of ranking.
Indeed, the workstations in Maxis are standardised throughout the floors, with no particular fixed seating or storage facilities except for personal lockers. Since they specialise in mobile service, no fixed telephone extensions are provided either – everyone uses mobile phones.
Plain white (but stylish) desks are provided for Maxis employees, which they must clear by the end of the day using the lockers provided. The CEO’s desk, located in a corner, looked just like every other.
Starting the day fresh from an empty desk, eliminates the snowball factor of piling work which can mentally stress an employee.
The concept of the Maxis office
“Creating a new culture is more than just writing a new slogan or creating a new jingle,” says Adzhar. “It’s about doing some major surgery to the organisation, including the physical workspace, to reflect the kind of culture that we want to create.”
Scattered throughout the open-themed office are meeting corners and discussion areas, which can accommodate cosy or medium-sized groups. These spots are not your typical meeting rooms – they are open and easily accessible to promote transparency, and the bright colours were chosen to energise.
Conventional meeting rooms with an unconventional theme are also available.
Having mentioned that, there are several conventional meeting rooms at hand, some themed more traditionally than others, to set the tone for more serious business meetings.
Open-office layouts have been highly criticised in the past for overlooking the needs of introverts. However, Maxis takes this into consideration and provides individual rooms where an employee can retreat to make a phone call, wrap up confidential documents, or gain some quiet and focus.
These cubicles lets Maxis employees get some privacy for confidential phone calls or work.
Supporting home-grown products, all the zesty pieces of seating, furniture and art propped up at Maxis are made locally. There was no need to import furniture from any foreign brands.
All the art and furniture pieces in Maxis are by local artists and furniture producers.
In an effort to be eco-friendly, the office was designed to be able to accommodate as much natural light as possible, minimising energy consumption. Automatic lights were installed to accommodate situations where natural light was limited.
Another environmentally-driven initiative was to only provide two printers for every floor. Hoping to minimise paper consumption, Maxis provides almost no room for paper storage, promoting digitalised documentation throughout the company.
Benefits of working in Maxis
The work environment in Maxis exudes flexibility. “We do not have an official flexible hours policy. But we’re flexible, that’s the most important thing,” says Adzhar.
He goes on to explain that while some companies go through lengthy processes to create a formal and rigid flexible hours working arrangement, Maxis puts the responsibility into the hands of their employees and their managers to judge for themselves.
The office pantry.
Unlike many corporations, Maxis is not a company that encourages long working hours as a way to move up the ladder.
Says Adzhar: “If you have to work after hours from time to time, that’s fine. But we strongly believe that the job can be done within the normal hours. Any extra hours put in is probably not very productive, and eats into your personal and family life. That’s not the way to do it.”
Every floor in Maxis has its own snazzy pantry with complimentary instant coffee and tea. Employees are able to upgrade to a large cup of freshly brewed espresso beverages for a small fee of RM5 at the cafeteria – proceeds from this will go to an identified charitable body or home, which will change from time to time.
Coffee for charity: A mere RM5 will get an employee a large cup of brewed coffee, while the proceeds go to a selected charity.
Also in the blue-green themed cafeteria are board games, snack vending machines, and a foosball table – handy for a quick break or to blow off steam.
The cafeteria in Maxis is piled with boardgames, newspapers, a snacks machines, and complimentary tea and coffee.
A corner for employees to unwind.
The cafeteria occasionally hosts office parties and gatherings.
Maxis is hiring!
Does this workplace and benefits strike your fancy? The good news: Maxis is hiring! Submit your applications via the link below:
• Head of M2M Market Engagement
• Business Analyst - Consumer Marketing Postpaid/Prepaid
• More positions
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