JUST two years back, a casual visitor to Cadbury India's headquarters could easily have mistaken it for a government office. That's the impression long corridors and mosaic floors leave on people. But that changed in 2001, when the management realised that a chocolate company should be all about fun. It completely reconstructed its office - Cadbury now has a gym, a cafeteria and piped music. Hey, this is a chocolate company after all.

"You have a culturally different Cadbury today," says Bharat Puri, CEO, Cadbury India. A Cadbury where Puri is trying to get employees to enjoy every moment of their worklife. In one of the first conferences he attended after joining Cadbury as director (sales and marketing) in 1998, Puri had made his sales people take off their neckties.
Liberation was at hand.

Putting the fun factor into Cadbury was crucial for another reason: Puri feels the company has to create a culture that gives insights and supports innovation. "The challenge was to actualise the potential of the brand," says Puri. He believes the top management should be judged on three parameters: "One, are we growth exemplars? Two, are we an action company, where you are encouraged to experiment and the cost of failure is not high, but there's a bias for action? And three, is this an organisation where you get up in the morning and say, 'Ah! I have to go to work'?"
The third is key. At the end of the day, the insights have to come from employees. "Fun and joy is being transferred to the workplace and the marketplace," says Radhakrishnan B. Menon, director (HR). So, every year on 18 July, the founding day of the company, employees are encouraged to go out in the market and provide feedback. The cross-functional teams that fan out on Cadbury Day comprise people from different functions - no boundaries, no silos. Each team looks at segments or issues like children, youth or affordability. Once they give their insights, they are asked to implement the change.

The increasing involvement of employees has helped Cadbury launch several products like Chocki, Delite and Bites. It has also allowed the company to explore channels like Pantaloons and SMS-based vending machines in offices.

When Puri joined the organisation, Cadbury was fairly hierarchical. He realised that people needed to be empowered. So, Puri has tried to decentralise decisions to the local area manager's level.

Today, if a manager has an innovation idea, he will immediately get a budget. "We would like to have area sales managers rather than area sales executives," says Puri.

Three-four years back, it took Cadbury nearly 12 months to launch a new product. Chocki, the liquid chocolate, was launched in three months. Going by the slew of new launches, it sure seems that employees are beginning to enjoy working in India's biggest chocolate company.