How Circles Life supports the development of its employees

These days, retaining existing employees and attracting prospective talent is no longer just about high salary offers or fun workplace benefits.

Having ping pong tables or a meditation room in the office, for instance, has little value in an organization that doesn’t prioritize its employees’ growth and needs. Today, employees know their worth and are on the lookout for companies who value them equally.

“Our people are just as important as our business visions and achieving targets,” says Thilan Warnakulage, digital telco startup Circles Life’s vice president of engineering in Sri Lanka. “To build the products we envision, we need extraordinary people and talent to join in on our journey. We want to make sure we understand the capabilities of our people and invest in them to build a committed, skilled, and collaborative team to make this happen.”

Hackathon at the Circles Life office pre-Covid / Photo credit: Circles Life

This approach has served Circles Life well. Between the months of March and June 2022, the firm saw its employer net promoter score increase by 10 points across the board, with specific geographies seeing a bump of up to 60 points. It’s also witnessed high retention rates and employee satisfaction across its different teams.

Empowering employees

At the core of Circles Life’s company values is empowerment. The company aims to make sure that each and every employee is equipped to make their own decisions, grasp the right opportunities, develop their skill sets, and have a healthy work-life balance.

Staff have access to a variety of initiatives including a stock option program, an employee recognition program, regular personal development reviews, mentorships, and manager training sessions.

“We believe everyone at Circles Life is a founder,” says Warnakulage. “We encourage bringing in a founder’s mentality so employees can have a clearer picture of what it takes for the company to achieve the goals, what it takes for them – as employees – to contribute to this journey, and what it takes to push Circles Life into the future we’re envisioning.”

Learning and development is also one of the top priorities for the company. Tech talent are exposed to a diverse set of skills and knowledge related to different aspects of development during their tenure, from the principles behind developing a platform to the best practices for working in a cloud-native environment. They’ll also be able to work with world-class consultants and veteran leaders.

Beyond company-organized training, employees are also encouraged to seek opportunities to attend external upskilling programs. Circles Life helps its employees identify the right courses, programs, and certifications to elevate their skill sets and take one step forward in their career journeys. It also offers staff opportunities to go abroad and collaborate closely with teams and clients, creating ways for them to gain more exposure and experience.

Supporting employees amid adversity

On top of enabling career growth, Circles Life ensures that its workers have all the resources they need to work without hindrance – especially during times of crisis.

With Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine, employees in Sri Lanka have had to face a variety of obstacles – from power cuts to long lines for fuel, gas, and other basic necessities. To address the regular power shortages, Circles Life distributed power packs to employees along with dongles for backup internet connectivity.

Staff could also continue leveraging the company’s digital workspace initiative, which allows employees the option of working from home instead of heading to the office. This is especially useful for those living in villages or remote areas, where traveling to work may be inconvenient, time consuming, and costly, thanks to rising fuel prices and long queues at gas stations.

“This initiative has helped our employees manage their work-life balance,” says Warnakulage. “They can decide when and where they work because, to us, ultimately what matters is the work they produce and deliver and their well-being.”

Thilan Warnakulage, vice president of engineering in Sri Lanka for Circles Life / Photo credit: Circles Life

Throughout the stressful time, employees also received various care packages from Circles Life’s customer happiness schemes and revisions to their compensation packages.

Amid the economic crisis, the Sri Lankan rupee saw a drastic devaluation. In December 2021, the country’s inflation rate hit 14%, overtaking its previous high of 11.1% in November 2021. This has led to food and fuel shortages across the country. To counter inflation, Circles Life management decided to give a flat salary base adjustment of 14% to all employees in the country. It also pegged salaries to the US dollar, ensuring that compensations were not devalued by the economic crisis.

The support for the Sri Lankan team has allowed them to grow amid the crisis and has enabled them to take ownership of more initiatives within the head office in Singapore. The team’s responsibilities have grown to include data engineering, which was once solely carried out from the Singapore office. Today, the data engineering team at Sri Lanka has grown to a total of 10 members.

“If there’s a problem, there’s an opportunity,” says Warnakulage. “One can jump into the problem or simply ignore it. If employees act on the problem and wholeheartedly tackle it head first, there’s an opportunity for them to expand their role and contribute something bigger to the organization, and this will no doubt be recognized.”

Staying true to the employee-first mindset

Sri Lanka is only one example of how Circles Life has supported its employees in times of adversity.

As movement restrictions eased and the world began reopening, the company conducted a survey across all its offices to understand employee sentiments around hybrid work and determine Circles Life’s work model for the future. While most preferred to have the flexibility to work from either home or office, Circles Life’s Philippines office adopted a fully remote policy, given that many employees live outside the city center and face long commuting times and issues with getting transportation to the office. The company continues to assess the way moving forward as the situation evolves.

The firm has also continued to work closely with employees to identify key areas of growth and opportunity in their work at Circles Life, creating ways for them to upskill and develop alongside the company.

And as the global situation remains uncertain, Warnakulage shares that Circles Life continues to be committed to making its employees a priority no matter what happens.

“There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach in terms of how to take care of employees, especially in a world that is in flux,” he says. “As the situation continues to evolve, so will the needs of employees, and we continue to stay rooted to our philosophy of listening, caring, and taking action accordingly amid all of that to be true to our mission of building a great place to work and grow.”

Circles Life is one of the fastest-growing digital telcos across the Asia-Pacific region and is committed to investing and developing its engineering center of excellence across its different markets.

To find out about job opportunities at Circles Life, visit the company’s careers page.

This content was produced by Tech in Asia Studios, which connects brands with Asia’s tech community. Learn more about partnering with Tech in Asia Studios.