Bruno, a dog, is Chief Happiness Officer at DIY e-commerce startup KartRocket

Bruno, a hyperactive adorable pooch, runs around the office at KartRocket, hunting for love, and spreads happiness and drool throughout the workspace

Why is a Chief Happiness Officer (CHO) important in startups?

Employees are the backbone of any startup. It is the staff workers who take a company to the next level of growth. If your employee is unhappy it will affect the overall performance of your company. An unhappy staffer can even script the failure of your venture.

Nowadays, companies have started providing various facilities, including free food, play area, gymnasium, and various recreation facilities on their office premises, to make employees happy. This is in addition to the perks and ESOPs provided to them.

However, despite all these facilities, employees keep switching jobs. The employee churn rate is something that worries most startups — funded or non-funded. This is because employees now have better alternative career options, with hundreds of startups cropping up every day.

So, the ball is in the court of employers to provide a conducive atmosphere in their office. They need to make sure the staffers are happy and in good health at work.

While it is the responsibility of the HR manager to take care of the well-being of their staff workers, some companies have employed special people to carry out this responsibility. They are called CHO.

However, Delhi-based BigFoot Retail Solutions is a bit different. At this company, it is a dog that dispenses the duty of the CHO.

Bruno, the Chief Happiness Officer, is a breeze of joy for all the employees. This hyperactive adorable pooch runs around the office, hunting for love, and spreads happiness and drool throughout the workspace. Bruno has grown up with the company and takes delight in helping the employees unwind.

Bruno sets camp near his ‘human-of-the-day’ and continues to seek undivided attention. His job profile involves regular cuddling, unrestricted drooling, the general fetching, and puppy-eying for food. KartRocket Co-founder and CEO Saahil Goel testifies that he has personally never seen a more enthusiastic employee.

“We at BFRS are thrilled to have Bruno as our CHO,” he adds.

Goel believes that it is imperative to create an employee-friendly environment, and BFRS has done just that. In the last two years, the employee count has gone from 40 to 200.

“It has become habitual to celebrate everything together, be it rejoicing about a festival in general, or live-streaming a cricket match at the workplace. Apart from the seasonal celebrations and the regular outings, the employees can de-stress with multiple indoor activities such as playing pool, mini golf, chess, etc. They also have quarterly sessions to acknowledge the efforts of employees and departments. BigFoot doesn’t believe in all work and no play, and integrating fun into the workspace is given much importance,” he adds.

BigFoot runs three products:

1- KartRocket is an e-commerce software platform that empowers SMEs, small retailers and entrepreneurs to start their own online business. KartRocket’s DIY e-commerce solution enables them to create an online store, design and customize it in less than 10 min.

2- Kraftly: It is a C2C e-commerce platform.

3- Shiprocket: It is an e-commerce logistics aggregation platform designed to cater to all kinds of shipping requirements for sellers/merchants in India. The product aims to create a shipping experience like no other.