Business, even in the digital age, has always been about people. Singapore’s leading digital transformation strategy consulting agency User Experience Researchers Singapore (USER) is once more making clear headway into building a people-centric business culture as they held their 1st Quarter Townhall online meeting last April 8, 2022.
The USER community enjoyed a brief review of the year’s start, celebrating employment anniversaries, and various achievements. What’s notable on this occasion is the pronounced movement towards building a stronger sense of community within the workforce – a stark rebound from restrictive measures set up during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We had a lot of good news this quarter and things are looking excellent from a business perspective. Everyone is working together and helping each other to figure out how to solve various challenges coming our way. But what I really appreciate right now and want to build on is our culture and team spirit,” says the CEO and Founder of USER.
Online Fun and Recognising Community Members
The USER community was in high spirits as the townhall meeting organisers arranged special activities and recognised employee anniversaries for all of USER’s branch countries. A brain-teasing game of online “Jeopardy” sent participants racking their brains and search engines for answers. Eventually, Wendy Bulosan (PH) won with about 100 points and was given a special prize.
Newbies and tenured veterans alike were also recognised by everyone as the organizers presented new employees across the company’s 4 branch countries. Three new UI/UX Designers for Singapore, new Developers and Project Managers in China, and for the Philippines, new Developers, Software Quality Assurance (QAs), UI/UX Designers, Project Managers, and Video Analysts. There were a total of 19 people celebrating their work anniversary at USER, ranging from one to seven years of service.
Organisers also exhibited a feature video of the recent International Women’s Month 2022 workshop held last March, recalling the event’s highlights and some nuggets of wisdom from the guest speakers from outside the organisation and within the USER community. The attendees also had the pleasure of seeing how their fellow USER employees are faring in their home countries: organisers showed photos of lunch meetups, baby showers, back-to-office work, and leisure trips.
Growing the Company through Culture
In an empowering speech for the attendees, the CEO also addressed a new vision for the company: a stronger drive to promote a better workforce and business culture that will allow everyone to grow and thrive.
“I am very confident in the direction we at USER are taking. Everything is good with this culture we are building up. We embrace differences, diversity of gender, nationalities, everything in between – we have Filipinos, Chinese, Vietnamese, even Malaysians. This is a truly positive company culture. Seeing everybody’s dedication, team spirit, and mutual respect – that’s the culture we’re building. I hope we can continue this momentum, as it is beautiful,” he said.
In line with this direction, the company is organising activities that will promote closer ties between employees and their families, promote the community spirit, as well as physical and mental health for every employee. Some of these programs include personal benefit programs such as online fitness classes, upskilling and professional classes, and leadership training seminars. Other plans to be implemented include an “Activity of the Month” program, face-to-face co-working projects, team building activities, virtual lunch-outs, and leisure-oriented activities such as e-sports tournaments. On top of these, the company is encouraging activities where employees can hang out together or with their families.
Furthermore, USER’s chief executive officer emphasized contributing to the community at large: “I think we can further contribute to a better environment and society. It is great to see people doing volunteer work, teaching other people, and sharing how our company’s culture extends to include the communities around us,” he said.
Building Success through Appreciation
USER SG also celebrated its recent achievements and triumphs, with all teams working on different projects with long-term clients and gaining new ground for new ones. The Singapore web design and development firm also once more earned the trust of the Singapore Government Technology Agency (GOVTECH), being invited to tender for the Agile Co-Development and ICT Professional Services contracts.
“These developments were made possible thanks to the indomitable team spirit of the USER community. I am proud of everyone’s hard work, cooperation, and motivation to deliver the best quality products and services to our clients. They continue to trust us thanks to these great characteristics and I am happy for everyone doing their best,” says USER CEO.
He also describes new wins and new directions, such as new investments: “We aim to expand our horizons to build more capability and to be more regional in approach. There are new markets for new products out there that we can explore. We are already known for user experience, mobile app development, and other fields. It’s a good move for our company to acquire new business partners,” he added.
The company is also opening up more support for its workforce. USER CEO opened up on adding more bonuses and balanced salary increases to further support for employees. He cites how the company wants to ramp up its appreciation of everybody’s perseverance and excellent output so they can better support themselves and their families.
“This year started off good, maybe same as last year but today, we are going to do better. The success we are experiencing is built on the trust our clients give us, the positive comments they
share with us, are all thanks to everyone’s contributions and team spirit in solving problems together. Let us not be afraid to support each other, constantly invite great talent to our community, explore new areas, and continue the momentum we have started,” the User Experience Researchers Singapore (USER) CEO said in his closing remarks.
