Our member, Raksha posted her question for you in a different channel. So, I'm reposting it here: https://theshapeofwork.slack.com/archives/C02U3M4GE4W/p1654689632618619?thread_ts=1654614151.893669&cid=C02U3M4GE4W

Thanks for the q, @Raksha Tak and @[TSOW] Priya Bhatt for pointing to it. I think Ben Horowitz said think of company culture as a product and your workforce as the customer. I’m a big believer in this. When you take this product and marketing lens to building the company, you have to apply the same principles as a marketer or a product manager will apply while thinking of customer lifecycle. Like a good marketer, segment your audience - the newcomer has a learning curve (needs an indoctrination into your culture - think what will reduce the friction in their onboarding and help them improve their lives using your product i.e. how can you help them be successful in their role. When you apply this lens, yes a company laptop and branded merchandise is great but that’s more about you; what does the newcomer need to become successful - clarity on role/expectations, what they should know about the domain/ their industry/vertical, whom to go to for professional help (don’t restrict yourself to fin/admin/IT/leave queries - put yourself in the shoes of a newcomer, whether they are a VP or a fresher from a college - they all have different needs to be successful in your company) Next, the marketer thinks of power users of their product - how are you helping the old hands in the company; a marketer doesn’t treat all users the same. Similarly, think about how you can help them further their careers and aspirations. A 35 year-old parent will have a different context as compared to a 24 year-old. They may not be able to put all-nighters but can add value through their knowledge/ right advice. Leverage that and provide opportunities for your power users to show why they became your power users and how! You can keep creating thinner and thinner segments (Utopia will be to have multiple segments of one user so that you can personalize the experience for each individual 🙂 but I understand there ill be limitations of time/effort and money). But don’t ignore your former users. An employee who quits doesn’t have to be treated as persona non-grata. You should think about creating a wow experience for even those who leave. They’re not doing anything wrong or letting you down. It’s just that their needs and aspirations are not matching what the org. is able to offer at this point. They can still be ambassadors of the org., its culture and you may want to get them back in future when the context changes (for the org. or for the individual). So think about what they need at the time of exit by putting yourself in their shoes. One thumb-rule to follow while designing these experiences is simply “Treat them the way you’d have wanted yourself to be treated”. This maxim usually helps when you’re in a dilemma 🙂 To sum up, take a design thinking approach - think of different segments of employees and put them at the centre of your design - what will help them be successful; have empathy; get feedback and be genuine about implementing it. You’re designing for humans and not bots. So don’t sacrifice experience at the altar of scalability. A genuine but less-than-wow experience that shows people that you really care about them is better than a cold, scalable design!

Thanks a ton for such a detailed explanation

A lot of this is insights based on our own work. I don’t have any references but happy to chat over a call and even do some ideating. We can connect over DM. Thanks.

Sure, thanks Harish