Personal growth is the least talked about aspect when people speak of careers. Why has the sense of self been completely removed from one’s profession? Work, and the value we produce through it, are certainly very important to other aspects of our lives as well. Urja was started with this exact belief – to be a place where the right minds can come together and co-create work that stimulates their personal growth. A large part of this includes ensuring that employees are treated well within the company as this is critical to not only their well-being but also to client relations, results delivered, sales achieved, and progress made.

Every employee matters

Advertising agencies, unfortunately, have a less than stellar reputation when it comes to factors like work-life balance, work-related stress, and burnout. This, of course, makes it difficult to maintain a seamless workflow since projects often involve cooperation with multiple teams at every level.

At Urja, we take an alternative approach by valuing our employees’ personal trajectories, including for example, making them feel warmly welcomed into the office by announcing a new worker's arrival on the noticeboard. Another key action is ensuring that each staff member receives individual mentoring along the way from their fellow team members as well as managerial staff, to continue our focus on efficient results delivery in a way that maximises their talents. So often, new joiners feel lost right after their initial ‘introduction period’ is over as they are still finding their way. It is easy to lose confidence in your workflow when you fear making mistakes and negative consequences. This is why we focus heavily on positive reinforcement, such as routinely updating our ‘Appreciation Board’ for employees, from clients to celebrate a job well done. An achievement for one of us is an achievement for all of us, this is imbibed in our collectivistic work culture. This also means remaining flexible with hierarchy so employees of all experience levels can move across stages at a pace they feel comfortable with, and they can achieve their best results at. Staying open to improvement, as management, therefore is one of our biggest assets in remaining fast and forward-thinking, despite being in the industry for nearly 40 years.

Progressing together, succeeding together

A key manifestation of this collectivistic value is to collaborate mindfully while brainstorming ideas that can fulfil the client’s desires – delivering great work for the client should also involve stimulating processes for the staff. Our collective mindset and consistent, diligent work structure are what drive us to creative outputs and allow employees to work from home as and when their circumstances require it, while still meeting deadlines on priority. Collaboratively upskilling through workshops similarly leads us to the same conclusion: that everyone achieves our long-term goals best together. Part of this, of course, is honing our interpersonal skills continuously to minimise friction and maintain client loyalty. Maintaining Urja as an accessible platform through which clients and employees alike can authentically come together and the best service can be provided for mutual benefit – this was, and remains, one of our main founding values.

Embracing what makes us unique

Being able to express ourselves should be just as important as exercising our minds, in an environment where we spend most of our days. Between ‘Fun Fridays’ full of games, to Christmas decorating contests that encourage friendly competition, including leisure time within the workplace has proven to boost morale, and therefore, individual and company growth. Making sure Urja remains an equal platform for exchange also means being inclusive to everyone and valuing holidays of all faiths equally – whether with office celebrations or well-earned family time. Having a diverse staff body and client roster encourages us further to make everyone accepted.

What started off as a journey for the founders to catalyse their personal growth turned into a multiservice platform that embraces everyone and encourages them to achieve the best they can, both personally and professionally, with Urja’s. Maintaining these values has always and will continue to define our work culture as an agency.