Earlier this year, some of Mr Tan Li Hao's team members went on a trip to Bangkok together. But this was not a company-mandated excursion; the co-workers took their own leave and paid for the trip themselves.
That colleagues – who already see one another every day at work – would willingly spend their money and leave days to travel together speaks volumes about their bonds. According to Mr Tan, this “family-like” culture transcends his team and applies to CrimsonLogic as a whole.
On his part, Mr Tan checks in with his team every fortnight. This helps him connect with them on a personal level and ensure they are doing fine.
“Every two weeks, I start with a non-work-related check-in on their mental and physical health,” says the 36-year-old senior director, who has been working at tech firm CrimsonLogic for three years now.
He adds, “Then, I check if whatever they’re doing is aligned with what they like to do and what steps they can take to advance their careers. It’s a very simple conversation.”
Simple, however, is by no means easy. Initially, team members had their reservations about being vulnerable with their manager and one another. But with time and patience, the walls began to come down.
“Once we established that safe space, they started to open up about work stress or issues at home. It helps me a lot because it allows me to understand their difficulties and adjust projects accordingly,” says Mr Tan.
It helped that they had plenty of opportunities to bond with one another. Mr Tan and his team have lunch together whenever they are in the office, and what started out as quarterly team outings facilitated by the human resources department slowly became self-initiated overseas trips.
“That was actually kind of a tipping point, and you could tell that the trust level within the team had gotten very high,” Mr Tan reveals.
“There’s no doctrine or standing instruction that says, ‘you guys got to do this.’ It’s just how it is here. You come here, you see how other people are, and you just kind of slide into the culture,” he explained.
This may have something to do with the FISH! training they undergo. The FISH! Philosophy, developed by ChartHouse Learning, is a way of working modelled after the Seattle Pike Place Fish Market, famed for their fish-throwing theatrics and enthusiastic workers. Its four principles – play, be there, make their day, and choose your attitude – are imparted to CrimsonLogic’s staff.
“When new hires join the company, the culture is already embodied by the majority, so much so that you simply get absorbed into it,” explains Mr Tan.
This family-like culture is one of the reasons CrimsonLogic has been named one of Singapore’s best 250 employers, in a list compiled by global research firm Statista in collaboration with The Straits Times.
The firm is also particularly invested in mentorship, even using a digital platform to match employees with suitable mentors. Employees and managers upload their profiles in order to identify skills gaps and get recommendations for learning and development, as well as explore available short term projects across departments.
Through profiling, mentors and mentees can also be matched accordingly, with a process set in place to ensure regular touch points so that both parties can benefit from the mentorship journey.
Mr Tan considers mentorship “one of the most important assets afforded by the company.” In fact, when he got promoted from director to senior director in 2023, he was personally mentored by their former CEO, who was stepping down then.
“It really helped a lot in preparing me for that role – his giving me guidance on how to manage projects and relationships at the senior management level,” he recalls.
“I felt it was the biggest game-changer because this kind of progression, to a senior management role, is not something you can glean from textbooks. You need someone to share their experience with you.”
Today, despite his new roles and responsibilities, the father-of-two appreciates his work-life balance. Often, he’s able to enjoy breakfast with his children, send them to school, and see them for dinner in the evening, thanks to the company’s generous work-from-home policy.
At CrimsonLogic, employees can choose to work from home on both Fridays and Mondays. Furthermore, there’s no strict requirement to clock in or out, as managers are empowered to grant flexibility to team members.
For instance, when one of Mr Tan’s team members requested to leave work early to attend a coworker's wedding where her daughter was the flower girl, he readily agreed.
“Of course, the expectation is that your work is done even if you leave early. My message to my team is that they manage their own time. It’s as simple as that.”
