What Makes An Exciting Place To Work

November 22nd, 2014 Companies

(Above: Group picture before the employees head out to test the new Maxis network around Klang Valley)

A look at a typical day at maxis

Maxis is in the business of connecting people wherever they are, and through its latest 4G technology, connecting them with high speed Internet.

Our ambition is clear – we want to deliver the best internet experience to our customers and give them unmatched customer experience.

Everything else is details…

Maxis believes a great brand requires a great culture to deliver it. Creating that culture is job No. 1.

Adzhar Ibrahim, head of people and organisation, says: “We can only succeed in creating a great culture if we are positive, passionate and collaborative.”

Maxis is also currently upgrading its work enviornment to reflect this new culture. The new office environment is open and collaborative, incorporating more informal discusssion areas.

(Above: Maxis introduced more informal discussion areas in the new Maxis office)

“You must actually welcome change as an opportunity to test yourself and experience new things,” says Adzhar.

In Maxis, the key to success is to turn its people and organisation, through a great culture, into a competitive advantage.

This requires creating a vibrant culture where people work hard but enjoy it, are creative but also results-driven, where people are valued for their talent and potential.

“Work-life balance is important, but is more than just a foosball table at one corner and a nice café at another (although we have those and more).

“It’s about getting people engaged and committed to a common vision,” says Adzhar. “It’s not easy. Many leaders bury themselves in numbers because that is actually easier. But culture is what really matters.”

Given that, how does it feel to work in Maxis?

This is a place that is fun, modern and vibrant with energy. People in Maxis come from different backgrounds and diverse experiences, locally and abroad.

Let’s explore this through the eyes of five Maxis employees on a recent work day.

Early morning

Rachel Heah, management associate
Rachel has a degree in Business Mathematics and Statistics from London School of Economics. This is her first job.

Today I am shadowing our CEO Morten Lundal – I get to tag along with him all day for two weeks as part of my development.

Earlier, we were in the Investment Committee Decision Meeting deliberations. There huge (and I mean HUGE!) investments are approved for our network and systems. Yet the meeting was relaxed, information needed was all available and decisions were made quickly. Really cool!

Some of the big decisions seem to be driven by not just numbers but our core beliefs that we are doing the right things.

Mid morning

Laura Jane Sta Maria, prepaid product manager
Laura has a degree in mechanical engineering, a graduate from Monash University. This is her first job

I was at our KLCC Maxis Centre for a prize giving ceremony for the recent contest that I worked on. We gave out RM50,000 in cash prizes to winners today.

A contest winner travelled all the way from Johor. She was so excited – she said she had never won anything in her life!

Now I am preparing for my trip to London tomorrow – chaperoning another group of winners from the previous Hotlink Live Life Loud contest.

I am excited – can’t wait to be with the contest winners, some of whom are visiting London for the first time. I have just completed the management trainee programme. I am a mechanical engineer by training yet here I am in marketing! We have talents from all backgrounds in Maxis – that’s what makes us more fun!

Early afternoon

Zurina Rusly, employee engagement lead

I have to manage over 1,000 employees in the Klang Valley, Penang, Johor Bharu and Kuantan testing our network and engaging customers. They’ll be surpised to find 80 masseuses ready to help them rejuvenate.

I am glad people are excited about the positive story of our network and also happy to help with jobs they don’t usually do.

The task of keeping our employees engaged is critical in such a value-driven company as Maxis. It’s keeping me on my toes – maybe I need a masseuse too!

Late afternoon

Abdul Karim Ali, head of network

Earlier today, I met with our Enterprise Business colleagues on next year’s Formula 1 race. We have been providing network support for the F1 teams every year during the race days.

I am really into high performance cars, so this is a particularly exciting challenge for me!

I am now meeting my team to discuss recent network updates as well as design architecture on how we can extend beyond LTE (Long Term Evolution) 4G technologies in the future.

We promised our customers an “always on” and “feel free” experience, and we will deliver!

The results of the network test by our employees are in, and they look good. As the chief network guy for Maxis I feel very happy. But I am up to the challenge – because tomorrow it must be better!

End of Day

Morten Lundal, chief executive officer

I am finishing the day sitting at the common desks. I used to have a huge CEO office, but we renovated the floors and took away offices and cubicles. Everybody (myself included) is in an open work space.

I had coffee with some employees this morning. I enjoy meeting, chatting, getting feedback, and discussing issues with them. I think they enjoyed them too.

Rachel was shadowing me on her first day. This will certainly help in her future career and it’s good for the Maxis talent pipeline too.

We attended a meeting reviewing the plan to spend capital on our network. We discussed about hundreds of millions of ringgit, yet the meeting went smoothly, everyone was prepared and energised and argued their cases well, and we finished the meeting 10 minutes early!

Our top management team, the Maxis Management Team, has accepted the challenge by our Management Associates to a badminton match tomorrow evening. They will lose. (They did!)

But tonight I am going to the finale of our day-long event where 800 employees in the Klang Valley went out testing our network and engaging our customers.

We clearly have the best network in the country.

Too bad I can’t join the other events in Penang, Johor Bharu and Kuantan where 200 more of our employees participated. But I am sure they will have a great time too.

What Makes An Exciting Place To Work