What my parents said about the Gojek Office
and why all parents should aware of the new way of working and career
It’s all started with a small talk from my mom, that she is curious to see Gojek office and the way we work. Previously she heard it from me that our office is right on top of the mall, with an open space concept, and playful atmosphere. She wants to see it by herself.
As my parents got a wedding invitation here in Jakarta, I’m excited to offer the chance to see around Gojek office. And it happened today, yes you may see when I published this story for date validation :’). Both my parents are wearing Kalimantan’s Batik that I bought in Nunukan 2 years back ❤, ready for a tour.
First Impression
“The office is big, how many floors that Gojek had?” my mom uplift her head and staring up to the building.
“See, Plenty of Gojek drivers are waiting in front of Pasaraya fountain” my dad pointing his finger and start capturing the moment by his phone.
We haven’t entered the office and hearing out their reaction is exciting for me. I’m curious about what will they said about the office.
When we enter the office
“How can the employee stay focus on their work with lots of games here?” my mom said that when walking through GO-PLAY, our play zone with Ping Pong table, Arcade games, Pool Hockey, DDR, NASCAR arcade, Foosball, and Street Basketball.
“Do we need to book the bed, before we sleep?” my dad asked me when I show him a sleeping room.
“It feels like you can see people on the edge of the floor, there is no wall between work-space” my mom rotate her head twice to confirm her finding.
“Is it a suggestion box?” my dad pointing on a heart box for #thankyou campaign that we’re running internally in Gojek.
“Why there are lots of meeting room?” my dad again asking with pure curiosity.
“Do Gojek have an employee in mom’s age?” my mom asking me with a big smile, hoping that I said yes, Gojek do.
“Is it fine wearing a sandal for working?” my mom spot two to three employees wearing sandal while working.
“It has an open canteen in each floor, no need to worry when you’re hungry.” my dad said to me after visiting all three canteens in three floors.
“What does the color tag means? Why they have a different color like red, blue, yellow, and black tag?” my mom said after carefully observing different color tag by the people in the office.
“It fits roughly 160 people here in the auditorium” my dad counting the seat on our auditorium, GO-LEARN seconds after we entered the venue. Showing off his mathematical skills :)
“It’s all glasses, even you can see Nadiem working from here.” my mom said that when we stepped out from 7th floor passing the BOD room.
“Take a picture on Gojek sign!“ my dad requested to take a picture before my parents end the tour.
And, that concludes the tour. We’re stepping in the lift and go to the ground floor. I bet they still have some questions in their mind.
What can I see from my parent's questions/thoughts?
If you wonder why I do not include my answer, the reason is I want to make my parent’s questions and thoughts as the highlight. By that, I can observe at least three things
- Generation Gap is real, remember when my mom asked about how can employees focus with lots of games in front of them? Also how my dad reacted to a sleeping room? For them it’s weird, because giving much freedom to the employee can be unproductive. It’s weirder when GOJEK have no clear working time, when you start & end the day is up to you. It took some time for my parents to process it all as they have been working for almost 30 years. Especially my dad, a lecturer in Human Resource Management that has some backing theory on productivity.
- The new way of working, when my mom said about the open office, I realized that my parents grow on the era where office usually consists of plenty of cubicles, with lots of private room for bosses, and less communal space. For me, open space is favorable as it fosters better communication and collaboration within the team. We can avoid silos and prejudice of other teams by removing the physical boundary.
- Career is evolving too, both of my parents are working in a relatively linear on their field. My dad starts as an account officer in a bank, to consulting, and later teach in the university. My mom even has started her lecturing career before I was born up to now. They see a career as a ladder, exploring opportunity that is off from your field isn’t normal. Which is probably true in their era, but now career has evolved. Many jobs that are not available/very limited ten years back and it‘s lucrative now. Jobs such as Data Science, Mobile Engineering, Business Intelligence is there now, and everyone can be part of the job as long as it has all the skillset. The medium for learning is widely accessible too online. Some GOJEK people are beating the odds of degree, read the story of Mas Kip.
I am so grateful to have an understanding parents who are supportive, but I heard many still afraid to send their son/daughter to study about computer science in comparison with the lure of career as doctor, afraid to let their kids working in a tech startup, afraid to see the unstable path of life (Parents that dreaming their kids on working as a civil servant or in government state-owned-enterprise).
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposing any parents who think that way. I want to say that all parents should aware and informed of these changes, as it affects their children future too.
In case you want to see any job opening that suit to your son/daughter, visit our super app site
