Kanishka Perera, Vice President of Sri Lanka Operations, and Zeenath Sathar, Vice President of Human Resources of Oceans, an organization that integrates Sri Lankan skilled professionals with global companies, share insights into Oceans’ rapid ascent fueled by an innovative remote working model and core values that provide people exposure to world-class career prospects.
Can you give us an overview of how Oceans operates and the key factors that contributed to its rapid growth?
Kanishka Perera: We are a remote-working organization, integrating highly skilled professionals from Sri Lanka and more recently South Africa with clients based across the globe. Unlike traditional outsourcing, our Divers – that’s what we call everyone in our Oceans community – are fully embedded into our client’s operations, involved in the day-to-day and decision-making processes. Our business operates under two verticals, which we refer to as EA+ and SV. Those in the EA+ vertical work closely with Founders and CEOs, helping them with all aspects of the business and embodying the spirit of being a right hand to the founder. Whereas those under SV, are more specialized such as accountants, marketers, software engineers, etc.
Three key factors have contributed to our growth; our remote working environment, allowing our Divers to work from anywhere, the above-market USD remuneration, and most importantly, the global exposure our Divers get by working with businesses at the forefront of cutting-edge developments.
Why did Oceans decide on Sri Lanka as a primary talent hub, and how has this decision shaped the company’s success?
Kanishka Perera: It began when our Founder, Ian Myers, worked with Sri Lankans in 2019. Initially, he had to relocate for work but switched to working remotely due to the pandemic. Having discovered the skill and business acumen that the country had, he believed that through the Sri Lankan people, he had found the solution to US’ hiring woes. Since then, we have grown to a team of nearly 400, expanded our operations into South Africa, and are building the future of work.
We believe that we are taking Sri Lanka to the world, and are contributing to setting a new standard for what an outsourced professional is. No longer are they perceived as a freelancer hired on a project basis, but instead they are a front-and-centre presence in driving businesses.
What challenges did Oceans face when setting up in Sri Lanka, and how was it addressed?
Kanishka Perera: Probably the biggest challenge was attracting the right talent to Oceans, and them understanding our unique model of operation. Being unknown in the market, we focused on building our brand, communicating the unique opportunity working at Oceans presented, and offering a USD remuneration. One aspect that worked well for us is our referral programme, where we leveraged the Divers who joined Oceans to spread the word about our overall offering.
Being remote also had its challenges, starting from convincing the market of the validity and authenticity of digital contracts to navigating through the economic crisis in Sri Lanka with power outages.
How does Oceans embody the qualities of a ‘Powerhouse Workplace’?
Zeenath Sathar: Oceans is open to those who thrive on self-challenge with a growth mindset. We are a knowledge-service organization with a highly skilled workforce. Our business is unique, how we operate is unique to Sri Lanka and we’re constantly evolving to make ourselves relevant for the modern workplace, continuing to set new standards in operation.
As an organization, we are constantly perfecting a holistic approach to what the ‘Diver Experience’ should be at Oceans. This goes beyond materialistic aspects but focuses on Diver satisfaction, delivering on our brand promise, and providing our Divers with all the tools they need to thrive. Our success is also driven by a young, dynamic leadership team that values our culture and people, encouraging openness and valuing the feedback we receive from our Divers.
Notably, we are quite proud of our 68% female workforce including the leadership team, which arguably could be one of the largest in our space.
What initiatives and benefits do Oceans offer to ensure Diver engagement, satisfaction, and well-being?
Zeenath Sathar: At Oceans, we follow a ‘total rewards policy’ encompassing benefits, recognition, compensation, well-being, and learning and development (L&D). We constantly strive to build a sense of community with regular engagement initiatives organized both physically and virtually. These initiatives range from movie nights to book club meetings to physical and mental well-being sessions which fall under our ‘Dive Well’ programme. Additionally, we have a comprehensive medical insurance scheme which ensures both our Diver and their families are looked after.
On the EA+ vertical, we ensure that new Divers are equipped with the right tools, skills, and mindset to excel at their role; we do this through a rigorous two-week boot camp-style training. Additionally, we have dedicated coaches who constantly support Divers to succeed in their roles.
An area we are consistently working towards is creating a healthy work-life balance by maintaining clear work and personal hours. Our work-from-anywhere policy helps create an ideal work environment where, on occasion, Divers are even able to work from overseas for short periods of time.
Can you describe the company culture and how it fosters a connected and motivated global workforce, particularly in a fully remote working environment?
Zeenath Sathar: We believe that culture is a reflection of our leadership. As a new and dynamic company, we’ve built our culture around six core values which are exemplified by our leaders daily. A key value that defines our culture extremely well is ‘no one dives alone’, promoting teamwork and support, which is central to our operations. We are a community that believes in each other’s success and fosters an atmosphere where everyone can excel, creating a positive ripple effect.