Whenever a Gong is sounded, the entire building cheered and clapped. Employees walk around wearing lanyards pinned with colourful and smiley badges. A recruitment interview room designed to be like a Talent Show setting with a 3-judge table and bright bulbs that light up showing “WE WANT YOU!!” if the interviewee passes.
Walk into this multi-storied office building and you would feel like Alice stepping into Wonderland for the first time.
WOW
There is absolutely nothing else like it, every inch of this premise and the people in it are just screaming awesomeness, exceptionalism and happiness.
When was the last time you stepped into an office and felt happier?
Welcome to: Feruni Ceramiche SDN BHD
Our entourage of 25 awesome people from all walks of life, were extremely honoured and privileged to be hosted by Feruni Ceramiche on a busy Monday, 15 October 2018.
The trip came after the conclusion of our Lifelong Assets Class in Kuala Lumpur.
This took 2 years to plan as Feruni had temporarily suspended their Feruni Culture Tour for some time due to the rollout of their new stores and global supply chain system. However, after much persistent convincing by us, Feruni finally accepted our request to do a visit and re-activated their Feruni Tour for us! (it was almost cancelled due to their tight time schedules and we are very grateful that they went out of their way to accommodate us)
Stepping into Feruni at their Petaling Jaya HQ in Kuala Lumpur, the place feels like a chic shopping mall instead of an office building. Even after climbing up two flights of stairs to their workstation level, it still feels like you are not at work.
Instead of the usual office cubicles, tables and chairs, we were greeted by an amazing staff lounge and café right in the middle of their workstation level.
What else could you name your staff café after?
Staff pantry works on an integrity and internal point system “Feruni Money”, which staff have to earn by working out at the staff gym, being good to people or by accomplishing a whole list of rewardable actions according to Feruni’s core values.
— text on Feruni money: “How we feel directly influences our work performance and environment. Having a fun working atmosphere that is more lively, exciting and less stressful makes everyone more alert and active.”
You earn a badge on your company lanyard if you prove yourself worthy of one!
Feruni Core Values
DELIVER WOW
A WOW is an experience dedicated to the receiver’s heart, which produces an overwhelming, sweet, fun, special, warm, fuzzy and happy feeling. It can be a gift, a surprise, an act or anything that is creative or innovative as a gesture of appreciation to the recipient. It can bring out a positive emotion in you, always leaves good memories and the best part is it is quite addictive. At Feruni, what matters most is how good you make people feel. We are committed to deliver WOW to our customers, fellow Ferunians, our family, our vendors and our partners in the long run.
EMPHASISE ON FINE DETAILS
The level of care, passion, focus and attention narrows down to the emphasis on fine details, where breakthrough achievements, the greatest acts and outstanding products are created. It can be as simple as crosschecking and reconstructing our entire work at the last minute in our effort to pursue perfection. It is our way to enhance our quality on every level and in any field with our sensitive and caring nature in thought, gesture, action and attention.
COMMUNICATE WITH HEART
We seek communication among Ferunians not just by words in speaking nor in writing, but with the best intention in our hearts and with a selfless notion when we are doing so. It is the openness that reflects the honesty and truthfulness between the communicator and the attention given by the listener. This communication forms a positive connection between one another to bond a relationship with good faith and trust.
PRACTISE INTEGRITY, HONESTY AND TRANSPARENCY
We are often clouded by our judgment when it concerns our own benefits. Being “true” to yourself is the wisdom achieved for practicing Integrity, Honesty and Transparency. It will guide us in making the correct choice and provide us with a reason for chasing nothing above and below this fine line. The greatest achievement is to obtain the openness and willingness among Ferunians and be respected as a trustworthy person with virtue.
DEMONSTRATE TALENT
We celebrate and embrace our diversity, individuality and each person’s awesomeness! We want people to love what they are doing, and by doing so their passion, interest, creativity, enthusiasm and initiative will blossom. We are committed in providing support and help to every Ferunian to grow personally, professionally and eventually unlock their hidden talent. Stretching our limits and volunteering for new challenges without hesitation, stretching ourselves in pursue of growth. The talent in each one of us is cultivated and reflected in our interactions with one another, while we foster changes for the good, build confidence and become a role model in our community.
EAGER TO SHARE
By expressing our care for everyone, Feruni cultivates an “eager to share” attitude among us. By sharing knowledge we will pass on the ability on how to get things done effective and efficiently, and by sharing experience we will pass on the skills in problem solving through our previous mistakes. By rendering assistance or volunteering to help is another way of expressing care by sharing burden. Helping every Ferunian to get on the right path to reach their ultimate goal.
WE CARE FOR EVERYONE LIKE FAMILY
We are a team and a family in a friendly, warm and positive environment. By supporting each other through the bad times and watching out for each other, the close ties pull us together to overcome any hurdles. Our care for everyone like family stems from the cultivation of virtue, understanding, trust, care and appreciation among one another. The best team does not only work closely with each other but also interact with each other outside the office environment to nurture care that goes far beyond the co-worker relationship.
HAVE FUN AT WORK
How we feel directly influences our work performance and environment. Having a fun working atmosphere that is more lively, exciting and less stressful makes everyone more alert and active. Having fun at work relaxes our mind and sharpens our senses to power up our creativity. By freeing our mind we will eventually free up our thinking ability, where an impossible problem will shrink to a simple solution. The ties between departments and staff are knitted more closely while putting away our differences for a harmonious and fun working environment.
BE INNOVATIVE
Changes will happen in every growing company. We must all learn not to fear changes, but to embrace and be driven by it. We must be innovative and continue to stay ahead of competition by being creative. Never be complacent and accept the norm, just because that’s the way things have always been done. Accept challenges with an open mind, constantly seek adventure and have fun exploring new possibilities to create innovative solutions on top of being efficient and effective.
LEARN ONE THING A DAY
We seek growth and to expand our horizon steadily as humans are learning creatures. More often our learning process stops or slows down as we step into working life. At Feruni, we encourage continuous learning from each other and sharing our experience. Learning is the life source of innovation that provides us with more perspective while instilling confidence and the ability in adapting. “Learning One Thing A Day” will empower us with knowledge in the most ideal manner to deepen our character and to be more inspiring.
Soon after, we were addressed by Dato CC Ngei who took us on a 2.5hr entrepreneurial and personal journey of how his vision and determination revolutionised the tiling industry and gave birth to Feruni Ceramiche.
And if you still have no idea what Feruni Ceramiche does… they make tiles; floor tiles, wall tiles.
Yes, boring, dirty, plain old tiles that everyone steps on every day, unnoticed, unappreciated.
Would you believe the vibrant office pictures you saw above are from a private Tiling company?
Feruni's 4 Pillars of Happiness
Cultivate Talents
At Feruni, people have always been the dearest asset in our organisation. Our motivation runs deep in matching the right people to their passion and nurturing these talents. We strive to unlock every Ferunian’s hidden potential, unleash their unique talent and bring them to new heights.
Community
It is our ambition to touch everyone’s lives, whether it is our fellow Ferunians, the society or everyone around us. Our ultimate goal is to inspire everyone to be committed to creating a positive impact and contributing towards the greater good of the community. As the saying goes, “small things can lead to bigger things”.
Transformation
To achieve progress, we must firstly embrace changes in our own mind and heart in order to have self development. Through our determination to transform our traditional ways in the tiling business, we are able to ultimately transcend the entire tiling industry.
Value Based Organisation
Feruni culture is shaped by 10 core values shared among everyone within the organisation. These ground rules establish the foundation and guiding principles for decision-making, actions and a sense of community in both our personal and professional lives. We are optimistic in finding the perfect balance between personal values and the organisation’s values to create a unified and motivate workforce, resulting in the fulfilment of “work life integration”.
Through the session, Dato CC Ngei bared his soul and shared his journey in his uphill battle of revolutionising the tiling industry. On how vision, culture, humanity can shape the outcome of an industry and ultimately, the essence of living and being a good person in this world. If you have just skipped through Feruni’s 10 Core Values and 4 Pillars of Happiness above, I hope you scroll back up to read them thoroughly.
From out of their own pockets, Feruni had also set up a Tiling Academy to help uplift the tiling industry, providing FREE education and training for tilers, empowering them to make a better living. Graduates from their academy will earn the title of a TILISTA.
What I share here does not do justice to what Dato CC Ngei shared with us over 2.5 hours. You really have to be there in person with Dato CC Ngei to experience it and be enlightened. The experience was so awesome that we decided to gather all our entrepreneurs and investing friends to visit them, some took a 5am train from other states to get here, some even flew in to KL just to pay Dato Ngei and his team a visit. There is no excuse, you just have to be here. Even accomplished entrepreneurs have so much to learn from Dato Ngei and Feruni!
But one phrase Dato CC Ngei said that struck a chord in our hearts is, “When you turn back and see that no one is following you, that’s when you question yourself about what you are doing… But that is the time you have to keep walking forward.”*
*not exactly word for word from Dato CC Ngei
We sincerely thank Dato CC Ngei, Gina and all the team members at Feruni for their precious time to host us and bring us on this magical company tour.
We would also like to thank all our students and VIPs who adjusted their work schedules or cut short their business trips to fly into Kuala Lumpur for this half day event on a Monday morning.
We truly hope that more people and companies can learn and benefit from Feruni’s kind sharing to create a better world and society for all: https://www.feruni.com/feruni-tour
Thank you for reading.
~ 利尽天下、而失其身、何益之有
Other stuffs about Feruni =)
