Cuture and Values Handbook

To become the preferred partner for global clients and an employer of choice by continuously investing in human capital and building empowered teams, thereby leading to the organization’s and Crafters’ prosperity.





We TRUST, we CARE, and above all, we believe in putting PEOPLE FIRST. We prioritize Crafters' health and wellness while also rewarding them for their significant contributions to the organization's growth. Do's Appreciate people in public and criticize them in private Greet, meet, and acknowledge people with a smile Support and aid people in need Be empathetic Learn to listen Show respect by being polite to all Appreciate team members and their contribution/work Ensure fair appraisal for team members with constructive feedback Nominate fairly for rewards and recognition programs Create a positive environment within the team Share the load with team members for extra work Appreciate personal space of team members Help team members maintain a healthy work-life balance Build flexibility in standard processes Follow the bottom-up approach for feedback

Do's Share knowledge and ideas with each other Treat everyone with respect, irrespective of designation Acknowledge everyone’s opinion and inputs irrespective of hierarchy Be accessible Be flexible and adaptable Have each other’s back & fill in gaps for colleagues when required Contribute with 3Cs- Cooperation, Coordination & Competence sincerely Don'ts Abuse and/or isolate any team member Indulge in gossiping Indulge in direct or indirect sexual harassment Indulge in gender, religious, caste or community-based bias Ignore/snub new ideas from team members Raise your voice while communicating with other Crafters Criticize in public Overload team members with unachievable work pressure or unrealistic timelines Be partial to some team members Undervalue team members’ efforts

Don'ts Manipulate or disrespect anyone Give judgmental feedback based on a one-off incident Encourage ‘Boss Phobia’ Promote long working hours Judge & disrespect each other Bully/dominate others, especially new team members Discriminate and demotivate peers

We believe in collaboration, collective ownership and having each others' back which fosters team bonding amongst Crafters. Do's Conduct and participate in new trainings & meetings Conduct and participate in excursions & fun activities Engage in problem-solving Reach out and help each other in a professional manner Conduct video meetings with the team Meet over coffee/lunch with the team as a whole Initiate fun activities and informal discussions with the team on a regular basis Appreciate/applaud, encourage and motivate team members Involve the team in the work process Give equal importance to all team members Be supportive towards the team, especially during difficult or challenging times/situations Lead by example Increase tolerance for errors/mistakes Create frequent touch points for intra-team communication- VC/WhatsApp, etc.

Do's aBcrSatHiivnAitsRtieoEsrmW/OcoRmKmAuNnDiNcaOHtETeL-/pSPaOrT-tEEicAXipMPaEtMReEIiEnMNBtCeEaERmDSOa, nENdSEPSoErgCaInAiLzLaYtioNnEaWl AND AttenSdHvAidReEo BcaElSlsT/mPeRetAiCngTsICpEosSitAivNelDy NanEdWsIiDncEeArSelyWITH THE TEAM ListenREanAdCHshOarUeT–TkOeeSpEeNveIOryRoSneINinCvoAlSveEdOF UNHEALTHY EVENTS achcWteicIvTkeHloyInNin tTenaHemEwmTjoaEitnAeeMsrpienrtirooddicuacltliyon Support and participate Help team members and Don'ts Force your opinion on team members Gossip about, bad-mouth team members or engage in backbiting/private criticism Threaten people using positional power Show bias in assigning work Pinpoint or blame team members Create a negative/toxic work environment for the team Hold grudges against team members Give negative feedback in a larger group Micromanage people Assume everyone will and should agree with you Isolate team members Feed or support grapevine communication Skip team bonding sessions Delegate or pass on your issues to your teammates

We foster competence by trusting, encouraging, and giving the right opportunities to our Crafters. Do's Participate and organize appropriate training programs to learn and build skills on a continuous basis Nurture subject matter expertise Appreciate and nurture competent people Seize opportunities for speaking engagements Explore new areas of services Publish white papers/articles Promote innovative thinking & solutions Assign mix of projects for wider exposure Recommend books/reading material to team members Identify professional courses and encourage team members to take those up Encourage and organize peer review & knowledge transfer sessions within the team Reward competence through appropriate rewards and recognition Learn, apply and share how new knowledge can be applied

Do's Promote healthy competition within the team that positively motivates them to improve their performance Have specific and one-on-one discussions with team members on their strengths and opportunity areas and engage in joint action planning, along with project seniors Discuss complex engagements with new/less experienced team members and train them Learn about and adhere to industry standards Identify and learn about new opportunities/challenges proactively Participate in training programs/professional courses for career and personal growth Network with people outside the team/cubicle/domain Seek continuous feedback for performance improvement and career development Engage in healthy and constructive work-related discussions, debates & problem solving Put in extra effort and go an extra mile to complete the allocated work, especially in challenging situations Practice to gain confidence to do tasks independently

Don'ts Restrict learning opportunities for individuals Give too much weightage to the past experience Ignore team members’ stated project preferences Continuously criticize for errors and ignore improvements made by team members Compare team members in a way that demotivates them Send improper/incomplete or very harsh feedback emails Defer problem-solving sessions with team members Assign time-sensitive projects to team members who are not familiar with the required skills for that project Demotivate or judge slow learners Ignore feedback from seniors/peers etc. Stop learning new things Repeat mistakes/errors Hesitate to clear doubts Be rigid to certain process flows

We recognize that fostering meaningful work is crucial for engaging Crafters. Do's Give work opportunities to newer or less experienced team members Take on and allocate cross-functional projects Encourage and support the learning aspirations of team members Explore new areas of services Add value to clients' businesses Assign work to team members based on their skills/knowledge Help team members learn and gain knowledge on the job Craft/Discuss new ways/ideas that add value or efficiency to the existing deliverables Use the team members’ skills at the right place for the right projects Seek diversified opportunities to broaden skill set Keep learning and sharing knowledge Reduce dependency on peers/seniors Deliver projects fairly, accurately & timely as per team expectations

Don'ts Overburden people with insignificant/ad-hoc tasks over a long time period Give repetitive tasks to a single person/selected people in the team Drag issues/problems Duplicate efforts/tasks Compromise on quality Manipulate work

We deeply value and protect the trust that our esteemed clients and Crafters have placed in us. This trust is an essential part of our core values and is critical to our long-term success. Do's Maintain internal as well as external confidentiality Practice and encourage strong work ethic including fair work allocation and treating people equally Encourage open conversations, facilitating transparency in operations Accept mistakes with dignity Honor internal and external commitments Follow a policy of billing hours fairly Follow company policies, values and work ethics Honor/Keep your word Become an example for the team by “walking the talk” Honor data security and client secrecy Be honest with teammates, seniors and colleagues from other departments Be disciplined Take ownership and accountability of the allocated tasks Maintain confidentiality about your compensation

Don'ts Leak critical client/organizational information (maintain confidentiality) Pass the blame on others or on one team member for errors in the whole project or for your own mistakes or actions Report incorrect claims, leaves, and working hours Indulge in plagiarism Intentionally misrepresent information Accept the task and not do it Stay silent or ignore unethical practices Hide or justify mistakes Steal data or any other confidential information Breach data security policies or undermine company policies Violate personal/moral values Tolerate unethical practices Misconduct and/or misrepresent Share passwords regarding any kind of software and systems Mislead anyone or pass incorrect knowledge to new hires Discuss resignation reasons with existing team members (fuel gossip) Discuss personnel information regarding payroll/ health records etc. Take someone else’s credit for your personal gains Discuss work matters in public spaces

We recognize that transparency encourages Crafters to work effectively and fosters clients' trust. Do's Create and support non-toxic workplace Build open communication channels for all Be honest with clients, colleagues, vendors, internal and external stakeholders Share project-related execution plans with the team members Communicate clearly about information and process Promote bottom-up/ 360-degree feedback Share relevant client information Document critical minutes of meetings and instructions Give constructive, clear and concise feedback on a regular basis Schedule weekly/bi-weekly calls with team members to build alignment Familiarize the team members with the project flow and project types Maintain visibility towards workflow and availability of team members Involve team members in the complete project cycle-end to end wherever possible Share correct details with team members/seniors Be accountable for the assigned work

Do's Be open to two-way communication Be fair in self and team’s assessment Ask for daily task call to build clarity around work plan and progress Be honest about timelines Ask for periodical ongoing progress evaluation Share concerns and issues Admit and ask for help when you don’t know something Resolve issues in a proactive and timely manner Have access to processes, tools and information required to complete work efficiently Don'ts Over commit and under deliver Ignore feedback from team members Miss relevant team members in client communication Give partial feedback to the team members Say \"yes\", if you cannot do it Be afraid to ask questions Give unfair feedback Engage in favoritism Spread rumors and false information Hide your mistakes Hesitate to give inputs/suggestions for doing things more efficiently





The foundation of our daily work is MS- Excel, and he was hardly aware of it. He struggled even with basic functions like moving sheets from one Excel to another. It took time for him to complete a task given this limitation. To add to it, he was new to the field of valuation and had no professional experience. Jaimin Sanghvi, a fresher from an engineering college, joined Knowcraft Analytics in 2016.

He designed certain solutions that didn't exist earlier including building an automated Excel tool that reduced report review time by 50% which helped in executing a big portfolio project with high efficiency. This reflects that when an individual is willing to learn, nothing is impossible, and competence can be cultivated. To everyone's delight, Jaimin left no stone unturned to not only learn his work well but to master Microsoft Excel in just a year's time.

Mayank Haritwal, who had just joined a year back, volunteered to be a part of the team that was helping implement this company-wide initiative. In the beginning of 2022, we started implementing Zoho Projects across the organization to streamline processes.

The team was asked to lead the sessions This strengthens our belief that if people across Knowcraft to leverage their are trusted, supported, encouraged, and experience on a broader scale and given the right opportunities, they can do showcase their contribution in a wonders and exceed your expectations. meaningful way across the organization. Mayank not only prepared well, and did a Great Job! dry run with the team lead before the session, but also handled the questions confidently, most of which came from senior team members.

Viken Doshi joined the TAS group as a fresher in Knowcraft. Soon after training, in the first year of his joining itself, he was moved from the Preparer group to the Reviewer group. In a matter of 2 years, he excelled in his work, and with his rigor to learn new processes, Viken was moved to a different group to help him explore his areas of interest.

In late 2019/early 2020, Vikrant Shetty, from the accounting team, undertook the challenge of shifting from his forte i.e., accounting to a new domain altogether - taxation. He wanted to explore his abilities and interest in the area. The journey was not easy as it was a new process and he had minimal knowledge. The support provided to him from getting him to know the life cycle of the process to backing him during escalations gave him a strong motivation to excel in the field. As a result of his passion to learn, and unrelenting dedication, he is now promoted to a team lead. At Knowcraft, we strongly believe in valuing and rewarding competence.

Due to the unique learning curve demonstrated by him, he was one of the quickest promotions to become an Assistant Manager at Knowcraft. Over the years, he has established himself as one of the most valuable members in the team and critical to client success. Vatsal Viramgami joined Knowcraft in January 2019 as an associate.

Vatsal's growth in the organization is reflective of the fact that in Knowcraft's ecosystem, talent and hardwork are rewarded, and provided with opportunities to grow and shine. His unparalleled attributes of grasp on valuation knowledge, responsibility, accountability and commitment fast tracked his growth to an Assistant Manager in just two and a half years since his joining.

I will send it over! Anjali Nair took the lead, trained herself on the task on a short notice and then It was that time of the year when the later trained other team members of the accounting team across the industry was Accounting Group not engaged in that already busy completing the compliance Project. services for their clients. This was December 2021, when due to attrition onsite, a client came up with a proposal to work on a one-time project to send out Vendor Balance confirmation emails to approximately 500+ Vendors.

Even with the challenges of remote work setting, all the team members supported each other and set an example of great team bonding. While working on this project, the team realized that certain vendors came up with different balances. The team went an extra mile and coordinated with the vendors and the client, spent several hours beyond their regular days, to reconcile the balances before audit kickstarted in January 2022.

One of our esteemed clients inadvertently paid an excess fee to us and never realized it. Once we at Knowcraft figured this out, we proactively returned the excess fee paid by the client. They were so grateful for the gesture and admired our business ethics.

Once, we were required to deliver a critical timeline project to a client in an ultra-short time frame. Two of the senior managers, Vivek and Kriti, reached out to the VP and immediately volunteered to pick specific parts of that project and execute those to the client's satisfaction, in the larger interest of the organization. The project involved thought leadership, quick process execution, technical know-how, perseverance, and most of all collaboration among their teams to meet the client's expectations. This was done beautifully by the senior leaders.

After the morning status call, it turned out that Aakash's teammate had 12 hours of work while Aakash had 8 hours of work on that day. His teammate wondered how she would balance her day and give a satisfactory work product for review Aakash Fofandi was working with one of his other teammates, who had an almost equal level of experience and skill set. They both were trained together and were facing their first busy season in their respective roles as first-level reviewers.

Our daily lives are replete with such beautiful examples of team bonding at Knowcraft. Meanwhile, Akash reached out to her to offer any help that he could despite his plate being full too. After discussion, Akash took up 2 hours of additional work on his plate to help her balance her day.

In January 2022, Vibha's team faced an Vibha wondered how the rest of the team unprecedented situation, when one of members, who were all relatively the senior team members was out of the inexperienced, would cope with the office and the other experienced team situation. To her surprise, two analysts, members had health exigencies and Saket Mahawar and Shubham Gulia, who could not join for a couple of days. To add had been with Knowcraft for just about six to it, the workflow suddenly increased as months, stepped up and actively a result of clients resuming work after volunteered to help, where required. Christmas/New Year break. Vibha

They proactively took ownership of the Others in the team were also influenced daily tracker, workflow, and reporting by their positive enthusiasm and took on requirements that they were aware of and more on their plate. This instance Vibha did not have to follow up. They also showcased the amazing foundation of checked in with their seniors every day collaboration, having each others' back, (even if late) to ensure that nothing got and collective ownership which fostered missed out and happily shared that since team bonding and impeccable work ethic. the seniors were not around, they had to step up so that the business goes on as l will handle usual and the client does not suffer. the rest!

Knowcraft's Marketing Department then consisted of three Crafters in total. In one particular week, the workload was extremely high and with a three-member team, it wasn’t possible for Anusree and her colleagues to complete the task assigned to them in a timely manner. In these difficult times, Trupthi Nayak, Jenice Jain, Khushbu Kabra, and Deep Shah - Crafters from other teams volunteered to help the Marketing team with the research work. Their contribution helped the marketing team to bring their work back on track. At Knowcraft, we are ‘One’ organization and ‘One’ Team that cares for each other.

Raumil Ahuja shares that during his initial days at Knowcraft, when he wasn’t able to understand the technical concepts and complex deliverables, his seniors and colleagues assigned simpler tasks to him, to begin with. Gradually, they organized training for those difficult topics, and gave him enough exposure, practice, and most importantly, time to understand, adjust and adapt to the organization’s way of working and client expectations. At Knowcraft, we understand competence building starts with genuine care for our Crafters.

Ananya was surprised, as she had already sent the work product to her seniors. She also had supporting MS-Excel files to prove her case. In January 2022, Ananya Patel started her career with Knowcraft. Some time ago, she faced a rather unusual situation. She was assigned an important client work, but when the manager did not receive it within the stipulated time period, everyone thought that Ananya had kept a backlog of this client’s work.

Ananya was relieved to find support from her immediate senior and truly appreciated her team leader’s proactive and transparent approach. Saloni continues to help Ananya and other team members and has their back at all times. Ananya’s team leader, Saloni Modi, soon realized the issue and figured out that there was a problem with syncing of MS- Outlook that led to the confusion. She quickly cleared all the misunderstanding between the manager and her.

Some time ago, a young girl who was a relatively new hire at Knowcraft (at an Analyst level), was approached by one of her male seniors (who had been with the organization for more than 4 years) for non-professional conversations. However, when the girl did not respond to him and his advances and reiterated his role only as a mentor to her, he started approaching her through her social media accounts. The girl reported the incident to her team leader, who in turn reported it to the HR head. Based on the incident reporting and a personal conversation with the girl herself, Knowcraft's disciplinary committee was immediately activated. Based on the proceedings of the disciplinary committee and HR's complete involvement, the truth around girl's mental harassment by the male senior was soon discovered. As an immediate next step, the disciplinary committee documented the findings and reached upon a conclusion to remedy the situation. However, even before the decision could be conveyed and implemented, the male employee decided to resign from the organization.

One of the male Crafters who had recently joined the organization made advances at a potential woman job applicant in the guise of helping her with her employment at Knowcraft. This immediately caught the attention of the HR team and after a quick and comprehensive understanding of the whole situation, the young man was asked to resign from the organization. At Knowcraft, we take our values seriously and when it comes to putting People First, we do not shy away from taking the right decisions, no matter how difficult they may be or who is involved. Whether you are a seasoned Crafter or a new hire, our values are non-negotiable. People come first, business interest later.

It is also an opportunity for the team to show initiative and help each other out, increasing interaction and bonding within the team. A very transparent process of allocating work to team members is followed in Knowcraft. The details of each member's workload are available to the entire team so that there is no room for any bias or inequity. The meeting is held with an entire spreadsheet of tasks and individuals which allows fair allocation of workload.

Mayank Haritwal Vikrant Shetty Anjali Nair Saloni Modi Viken Doshi Vatsal Viramgami Jenice Jain Trupthi Nayak Kriti Agarwal Akash Fofandi Shubham Gulia Khushbu Kabra Vivek Shah Saket Mahawar Deep Shah

[email protected] Knowcraft Analytics 2022