How startup companies are offering fun activities to engage and retain employees [Economic Times]

These millennial startups, fuelled by liberal doses of funding, are designing a work culture that fosters collaboration, camaraderie, creative thinking and bonding among departments that on a day-today basis don't get a chance to interface with each other. To do this, they provide a plethora of activities including health and wellness sessions, team outings, hobby classes, provisions for indoor games, movies, book clubs and more.

“Startups have realized (that) in their world it's not the number of people but amount of efficiency and effectiveness of each employee (that matters). This needs an environment that is conducive,” said Anand Lunia, founder of seed-stage venture fund IndiaQuotient, also an investor in DogSpot. “Ordinary people have to perform extraordinary tasks and have to go beyond their past results.”

The overarching idea, Srivastava said, was to create a “cultural chaos” and shake ingrained beliefs ..

The litmus test will be when the chips are down, said entrepreneur-turned-investor Ronnie Screwvala. “If you are 15 days late with salary, will it make a difference if you have a dart board in the office, are eating ‘pani puri' on Wednesdays or going to the pub on Fridays? I don't think so,” he said. “No one has gone through that right now, because they are still in their multiple funding rounds.”