Pursuit of Happiness at Work? Meet Mumbai Based ‘Never Grow Up’

Research shows that engaged employees are more productive. They are more profitable, more customer-focused, happier, and more likely to withstand temptations to leave. While conventional wisdom suggests that pressure enhances performance, real-time data shows that workers perform better when they are happily engaged in what they do.Realising the gravity of this, January 2010 saw the launch of Never Grow Up, an Employee Engagement and Fun at Work Services Company that works with Human Resource Managers and Business Leaders to create and promote the right culture at work. They aim to keep employees happy, engaged and productive which in turn translates into profits for the company.

Their offerings range includes Consultancy, Workshops, Internal Communications, Employer Branding Services, quirky merchandise and more. They also build reward programs and help organizations redesign their cubicles or offices.

Never Grow Up is based out of Mumbai with a core team of 5 people. They firmly believe that their competency lies in having developed a sound understanding of the consumer, which in this case, is the employee, and in being able to offer solutions that ‘connect and leave a mark’. Most of their products and ideas are customized and this, in turn, means that each client and brief is evaluated keeping their organizational challenges in mind. They assert that it is their innovative and customized approach to problem solving while addressing human capital issues, which not only leaves a positive impact on the lives of people caught in their stressful 9 to 6 schedules, but also has a positive impact on the bottom line of their clients making this a profitable ‘win-win’ proposition for both the company and the employee.

Over the last 2 years, they have engaged with over 350 retail customers through public workshops and over 2,500 employees across various organizations spanning lower/mid to top management levels. Their clients range from organizations in the Retail, Manufacturing, Banking & Financial Services, Media, FMCG and IT services sectors. Monetization comes in either through a retainer/an ideation and creative fee for the project at hand, depending on the needs of the client.

They also have strategic tie-ups with four brands for re-selling merchandise that appeals to the kind of work they do. These include Happily Unmarried (Delhi), Chumbak (Bangalore), Pyjama Party and Poppadum Art (Mumbai).

Asif Upadhye, Founder at Never Grow Up, has done his Masters in Advertising and Communications from SIBM, Pune. Prior to starting Never Grow Up, he worked in organizations like HDFC, HSBC and Barclays across departments including Communications, Marketing and Product management at a PAN India level. He co-founded Never Grow Up with Shazia Upadhye, who is a practicing dentist and the Chief Advisor at Never Grow Up.

The inspiration for Never Grow Up came from their personal experiences on the corporate front and by listening to the problems that employees normally face in an organization. This led to a need for a gap analysis of what customers and clients can do to create the right culture and an engaged taskforce at work.

“We firmly believe that Work can be made Fun and that by taking action and making fun, a part of your culture in the organization can excel in areas where challenges and problems have been the norm. After all, it is people that run businesses. You take care of them and they in turn, take care of the work,” Asif tells YourStory.

Never Grow Up was self-funded and a capital of INR 9 Lakhs was invested to startup.

However, being an idea led start-up in the service space, the challenges were immense for them, especially, since this was a rare business idea. “Most of our learnings were through trial and error experiments but they have really helped us fine tune our services. The first six months were about un-learning and re-learning the ropes of the business, evaluating core ideas and more importantly, convincing clients about the services we have to offer. Being a first generation entrepreneur has its days when you feel like it was easier on the other side but then, we have a bunch of spirited team members who are passionate about ideas that keep us going. Our mission, at Never Grow Up, is to connect with people and in turn help them connect with their inner child through our products and services. We are driven by the smiles we see on our customers’ faces!” Asif concludes.