Samira Shihab is a self-empowered entrepreneur with a passion for helping other female leaders succeed.
Chapter: New ways of working
About: : As an entrepreneur and CEO of Tinkerlust, Samira built her business and claimed her space in Indonesia’s digital fashion e-commerce. Tinkerlust is a tech company that caters to Indonesia’s market for high-end, pre-loved fashion goods. Her personal passion is female leadership, which led her to form Stellar Women, a forum and community that aims to empower and nurture other aspiring women to be the leaders in their respective sectors.
What was the biggest transformation that took place in your company and how does it affect the employees?
The impact of COVID-19 and the sudden change of losing the presence in the office was a real challenge for me. I was used to having a daily routine of spending the majority of my time at work and being able to focus on the details of our daily tasks.
To compensate for the physical absence, in the earlier days of remote work, I requested many of the team members to report to me daily. However, over time, we found that this requirement compounded the workload and it became inefficient for the team.
“We shifted to a ‘results-oriented’ approach and continued to ensure that our goals are met, and everyone can still work safely without excess administrative work.”
We made this change because I realized that the flip side of remote working is people are quickly feeling fatigued and burned out. It is also quite common for many of us to overlook this condition until it’s too late. I think practicing self-awareness and monitoring yourself to prevent reaching that point is a necessary tool in navigating your professional performance and space.
I believe we are more mindful of each other now than the pre-pandemic era. Now, we have created systems and structures for everyone to continue to work safely and maintain productivity. Eventually we found our rhythm and figured out a way for the team to be efficient and maintain our cohesiveness.
Under the new ways of working, how are you supporting the gender/talent diversity in the new working environment?
In regard to gender equality and the criteria needed to work effectively, I give the same benefits to the male employees that I give to female employees. Having said that, I feel that if more of us can understand that fathers also have to tackle their responsibilities at home, then the women are not pressured to be the sole domestic contributor. I believe that for us to empower women, we also need to provide support to their partners.
“I understand we are focusing more on the challenges we face as women trying to balance our work and home life. However, I am mindful that many of our male colleagues are fathers as well and at times they also struggle with the same issues of trying to be effective at work while at home with the kids during the pandemic.”
When the lockdown started in early 2020, we really thought things would return to normal within a matter of weeks. But over time it became obvious that we needed to shift and modify our way of operations. It is important that we support all of our employees through the changes everyone was forced into due to COVID-19 so they can continue to contribute, even from a distance.
After adjusting for two years, we do not have a specific policy that mandates a certain number of days to be physically present in the office. But it is determined by the department to decide the necessary ways of working for the team to deliver effectively.
How do you cater to the different talent and provide flexibility in your working model?
Because of the shift in work culture due to COVID-19, I think the choice of remote working will always be with us. Seventy percent of Tinkerlust employees are women.
“As a general fact, women tend to leave the workforce to accommodate their domestic commitment once they are either married and/or have children. But I think working remotely has allowed many of our team members to stay with us and they can concurrently be a mother and focus on professional advancement.”
What are some of the cultural and mindset changes that are needed to make organizations a great workplace for female talent?
I think it is important to know how our employees are doing and observe the depth of their engagements. The culture I am aiming for at Tinkerlust is to have everyone feel continuously challenged for their own professional development.
"I believe that the primary role as president director of a company is to ensure that everyone has the proper resources, and that means hiring the right people, having a strong management team, and providing the tools for everyone to perform well, and support the advancement of their careers.”
In addition, having job security is also vital to that great culture formula. I remember in the early days/ onset of the pandemic, I was extremely concerned with the company’s ability to adapt and survive. I did not want to lay off employees who had been with us from the start and who had sacrificed so much. Our leadership team chose to reduce our own compensation in order to preserve financial flexibility for our company and our team.
There were many hard decisions, but we survived the process and it made us stronger. I am extremely grateful for the team’s commitment because the thought of losing people was quite daunting at the time. Luckily, our team stayed with us because I believe they understood that we were all on the same boat and felt a collective responsibility.
Overall, I think the key points to creating a positive culture in the workplace is to challenge people, provide the right resources, and ensure job security. I wake up every morning feeling professionally fulfilled and blessed because I have my dream job. I want to help others get closer to that level of professional satisfaction.
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