How Has Razorpay Cracked The Code Of Cultural Integration Of Employees?
1. How would you describe the work culture at Razorpay?
As an employee-first organisation, our efforts are always towards building a place where employees feel valued, respected and nurtured because they are intrinsic to our vision and mission. To achieve this we have been focused on co-creating a culture that is based on the foundational principles of
These culture tenets are deeply embedded into Razorpay’s ways of working and define who we are. People are our most valuable assets. Ensuring that they are encouraged further to pursue their dreams whilst being part of a fintech revolution is what best describes how it feels being a True Razor. Our prime goal at Razorpay remains intact - Invest in People very carefully, and once invested in them, champion their cause as yours.
2. What challenges did you face while integrating employees of acquired companies? Share some key learnings from the process?
Integration is primarily a people & culture initiative, the business success is driven by how well the people are aligned and motivated to achieve the collective success. There were three important priorities that we resolved to achieve very early in each of the 7 integrations:
·Open and frequent communication: We created various channels of communication that ensured a consistent dialogue between the teams. Forums like Town Halls and All Hands ensured broad directional alignment. We also created other focussed forums to address specific problem statements
·Aligninging to a common vision: A fair amount of time was spent to articulate the vision and objectives post integration. The teams went to a fair amount of depth to define the direction and ensure its linkage with key goals and milestones. This alignment ensured everyone had clarity on the way forward and the role that each one of them play in making that happen
·Execution through hybrid teams: All key priorities were assigned to combined teams from Razorpay and the newly integrated teams. This ensured seamless best practice sharing, collaboration, access to common resources and both teams having an equal skin in the game
This was one of the key priorities that we invested in fairly early on and getting this right played a key role in the success of overall integration
3. What are the Do’s and Don'ts to be kept in mind, when Integration of Employees takes place post-acquisition?
Viewing Integration as a “Human” and a “Humane” exercise is a key differentiator that defines the overall success. Few things that we can recommend as best practices based on our experience are:
4. How do you ensure that Founders of the Acquired Company choose to stay back and become a part of the Razorpay Family?
Early on, we realized that acquiring a company is almost like a marriage and the sanctity of it holds true only when all the parties involved feel being cherished and respected. When we envisioned growing our Razorpay family via the acquisition route, we chose to be appreciative of the value that the founders bring in and the work ethics that the team of acquired companies can share. Celebrating and championing the uniqueness that each company brings about has only enabled us to proudly share that today, post 7 acquisitions, all the Founders have chosen to stay back and be a part of the Razorpay Family. Few things that enabled this outcome are:
·Align on a common shared vision
·Provide respect and autonomy to the Founders to feel empowered
·Set crystal clear expectations on outcomes, goals, milestones
·Design reward plans in a way that they incentivise common success
5. Are there any policies followed by the Acquired Company that you have incorporated into the Razorpay Work culture as well?
Ezetap, which is today the offline payments arm of Razorpay, has had some powerful practices around performance management. They have taken reasonable steps on the whole concept of continuous feedback and as a team, we have had some interesting learnings and are trying to see how the integrated model we have built incorporates these learnings. The simple idea here is that when you genuinely have meritocracy into how the company forms, you always keep an open mind and have a more receptive culture.
6. What according to you are some of the best practices organizations should take up to enable smooth integration of people post acquisitions?
Frequent in-office sessions for the acquired company’s employees to visit the parent company’s office, conducting FGDs and 1-1s to gather feedback on the integration and constantly improve the integration process based on the feedback, emphasizing on the fact that both companies are behind the same vision and have a similar working environment, and ensuring that founders of both the companies are in complete sync with the values of both the companies, are some of the industry best practices that we not only recommend but also follow diligently.
7. Can you talk about some key initiatives/policies which have ensured Razorpay not only retain but also attract new talent?
Aimed at ensuring the highest standards of wellbeing for Razors, we rolled out Health Insurance Policies for Same Sex and Live in partners and introduced a Family Assurance Benefits Policy. We also announced a first-of-its-kind 'Wellness Leaves' concept as a part of the leave allowances of our Employees to remove the stigma around mental health that discourages people from taking leaves during the COVID-19 lockdown. By including burnouts, periods, or any leaves needed for someone to be fully functional at work, we ensured that our employees take the best care of both their physical as well as psychological well-being and their families’ too. One of our ‘popular among employees’ initiatives has been ‘bring your children and pets to work,’ which has benefited many employees in discovering a guilt-free and more convenient way of balancing work and spending time with their kids and pets. Additionally, every fourth Wednesday of the month is a ‘No Meeting Day’, in an effort to boost creativity. We have also added open hours of counseling in association with “One to One Help”, a free to walk-in session for anyone who wants to have a heart-to-heart chat with a mental health specialist. In addition, all employees have access to recreational facilities like foosball, chess, billiard table, TV rooms, etc. at the office premises. All this has not only ensured talent retention, but has also been instrumental in nurturing passionate and committed Razors.
8. What inspired you to make the employee health insurance policy more inclusive? Are there any new policies you plan to roll out for Employee well-being?
Razors are our lifeline and we not only value them but also ensure that their health is well taken care of. The thought behind launching the revamped Health Insurance policy, for instance, was led by the desire to find ways of building a workplace that practices diversity and inclusivity. This motivated us to revolutionize ‘caregiving’ by extending our cover beyond the traditional definitions of a family. Being proud custodians of a workplace that is free of bias or discrimination, full of equal opportunities, and a safe place to work for people irrespective of their identities, we believe in ensuring a healthy environment for all of our team members alike. A progressive work culture that accepts and celebrates individual diversity will always bring out the best in employees, allowing them to perform better. Covering gender reassignment surgery without a cost limitation and only subject to co-pay, coverage for infertility treatment and any post-delivery issue that arises, and covering Ayurvedic treatment in specific scenarios, are some of the integral nuances of these inclusive policies.
9. What is the current headcount and present attrition rate at Razorpay?
Today we are a team of about 2700 Razors. Our current attrition rate is in the lower end of double digits. What we also track very closely is regrettable attrition, which is people who we wish to stay, and that is predominantly a large portion of our people. Attrition in this bracket has been in single digits, which is a testament to the employee-first culture that we have built carefully over the years.
