People & Culture

The accompanying image shows a few of Jord Malaysia’s workshop crew, celebrating the successful Factory Acceptance Test of gas compressor air cooled heat exchangers. The air coolers are to be delivered to a XTO (Exxon) gas field in the Permean Basin of New Mexico. COVID prevented our American friends witnessing the test in Malaysia. However, they were on-hand over Zoom and together with 3rd Party Inspectors, signed off successful completion of all required test work. There were 15 air cooler bays in total. Three of them can be seen in the background of the photo. The air cooler train was way too big to undertake this work under roof in Jord’s workshop. So cranes were hired in to assemble and test the train in a holding bay outside the workshop.

Thanks to Sydney based Design Engineer Luke Gay for submitting the adjacent image from a trek he did with three work comrades last week. They took Thursday and Friday off to clear their heads by hiking the world-renowned Coast Track. This 26km path winds its way along the dramatic coastline wilderness of the Royal National Park. Stretching from the southern outskirts of Sydney pretty much to Wollongong, it boasts lookouts, secluded beaches, whale watching (in season) and bugger all else.

If you’re in a hurry, you can do it over a long day. But Michael Luu, Chris Bryant, Hammad Muzzafar and Luke took their time over two days, to flick flies and smell the wildflowers, camping out under the stars for a night of tall tales and quiet reflection.

Everyone at Jord is encouraged to find that right balance, whether this be time with friends or family. Or simply time alone, finally doing something about that hobby you’ve never before had time to pursue.

MYRA WALKER, DRAUGHTSPERSON, SYDNEY

As a draughtsperson in our Sydney office, Myra initially focused on 2D drafting until she completed training for Autodesk Inventor which is a 3D modelling software package for mechanical design. “Since then, my role has evolved to include different types of drawings for the mechanical, electrical and process engineering departments,” said Myra. Recently, Myra was part of a small team that secured the first contract under BHP’s Supplier Innovation Program and she’s also been involved in our patented Viper filtration technology. “I’m most proud of working on such new and innovative projects. Whilst these products are challenging to work on, it is also exciting to see the successful implementation of such new technology with a motivated team of colleagues.” Myra encourages other women to be confident in what you bring to the table. “I believe my greatest strength is my efficiency and versatility. With varied experiences across multiple departments, I bring resourcing flexibility to the company.”

ZARIZAM BADUR, FINANCE, MALAYSIA

Zarizam is a key member of the finance team at our manufacturing facility in Malaysia. People who know Zarizam remember her for her unwavering positive attitude and for being a team player. “We are only a small team here in Malaysia and hence everyone needs to contribute for things to work. I always try to ensure that we have good communication in order to share the load and make sure no one is struggling,” she said. When the finance team recently upgraded its accounting system, Zarizam got involved in testing and identifying any teething issues to ensure a smooth transition for everyone. “Women are able to bring a different perspective which can result in better business outcomes. I am thankful to Jord for supporting myself and other women to succeed in such a male-dominated industry.”

ZARNA MODI, DESIGN ENGINEER, INDIA

Zarna encourages other women to “never forget their strength,” adding that her own personal strengths are passion for her work, adaptability to new work, and soft communication skills. As a structural design engineer at our Baroda office, Zarna is responsible for design and detailing of structural steel related activities for a variety of equipment and process plants, and she often coordinates 3D models and supports the sales team with quotes for bids. “Representing my department at the 2018 Jord conference in Sydney was such a proud moment for me,” said Zarna. She says women have the ability to manage work-life balance and she often works with her team to plan activities so no one has to stay late at the office.

CLAUDIA CHONG, DOCUMENT CONTROLLER, SINGAPORE

Claudia is a Document Controller based in our Singapore office who says she is known for handling all of her work with love and meticulous attention to detail. Since 2011, Jord has relied on Claudia’s careful management of project documents, which includes preparing and checking documents ready for issue at major project milestones, in addition to maintaining all customer specifications and ensuring drawings remain in good shape for traceability. Claudia says she is “proud to work for Jord where men and women are given equal opportunity to be involved in Jord’s vision.”

We welcome expressions of interest from women who would like to be part of an international company and who share Jord’s values of ideas, talent, culture, value and rigour. Learn more and submit your resume at https://www.jord.com/careers/.

Reshin Rahuman

Jord just completed its first bi-carbonate soda blasting of finned tubes at an APA compressor station in central western NSW. Reshin worked through 12 hour days on site, working 7 days a week. And all this whilst fasting for Ramadan. Ramadan is a special time to connect with family and the community. Instead, Reshin spent countless hours cramped in a plenum chamber, covered in fine white dust. Not once did he mention his fasting or ask for a break. Reshin is a soldier, fighting for Jord on the front lines with valour.

Shweta Thakur & Parag Thakkar

Covid has disrupted our lives in profound and unprecedented ways. All of us were worried about our relatives, friends and our jord community as a whole. Many Jord people became covid patients & struggled with anxiety, grief, isolation, lack of information, timely testing and/or proper medical treatment. In the face of this, Parag and Shweta personally reached out to all covid sufferers in Baroda & Hyderabad. Their acts of care made a huge difference, helping people to talk openly about their fears, the day-to-day challenges they were experiencing and the personal needs they required. Jord is indebted to them both for their innumerable acts of kindness.

Kirtan Vanecha & Sapan Sapkal

These two gentlemen in our Baroda E&I department took extra effort to complete standardization work in Electrical and Instrumentation activities. This has already greatly helped improve both our document execution time and our error free statistics. Instrument Lists, Input/Output lists, Cable lists & schedules, Alarm and Trip setpoint lists, instrument data sheets and JB lists & wiring diagrams are now all generated within a common “Master Workbook” database. This has been a great leap forward in de-bottlenecking and simplifying what has traditionally been a relatively troublesome area for us.

Mounica Mondreti

Mounica has been multi-tasking in uncertain times, managing her office process design team whilst juggling her family and her Covid struck parents. All this without ever dropping her focus on How to Win. Mounica has a passion to develop gas treating at Jord. And the patience to nurture various demanding customers whilst taking any failures as a step to success. Mounica’s perseverance has not waivered during this time. For the recent CPECC success, she attended a staggering 60 technical meetings over a two year period. The resulting $10m+ order made all this worthwhile. Well done Mounica.

There’s been a lot of discussion about employee engagement as businesses have adapted to a virtual working environment through the COVID pandemic. Our response has relied on sound technology and systems for connectivity, as well as a loyal team that believes in continuing to work towards the company vision. The truth is there are many people and culture initiatives that engage and empower teams. But I believe there are two essential elements to motivating and retaining an elite team.

Firstly, it’s the people and the relationships you develop at work that impact happiness. At the Jord Group, for example, our engineers span 25 nationalities and speak 40 languages so we have opportunities to interact and learn from each other with unique and different backgrounds. We also invest in developing line manager capabilities because, when we have stronger relationships in the workplace, we’re more likely to collaborate and value our work together. Having a leader that can genuinely connect with and inspire people is also very powerful.

The second essential element to retaining an elite team is the work experience that you get on the job. Due to the innovative and nimble approach at Jord, our staff are exposed to a range of different industries and technologies they might not otherwise have access to. Through investment in research and development initiatives, we are testing and bringing new products to market such as the Viper filtration for minerals processing, as well as expanding into emerging markets such as crystallisation plants for battery chemicals and floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) facilities for oil and gas. The pride and passion that comes with pioneering new industry solutions is strong.

We further strengthen employee engagement by providing third party training opportunities, holding an annual conference to bring people together, as well as empowering people to set their own goals and make their own decisions through a ‘network of teams’ program.

An engagement program isn’t complete without measurement and I’m please to say our most recent engagement score of 81 percent is in the top 25 percent of all companies on the Culture Amp platform which aligns with our goal to be an elite company.

Despite the numbers, the best proof that a company is a good place to work is the long-serving staff members. Some of our clients have relationships spanning decades with particular team members and we couldn’t be prouder of that consistency, experience and retained knowledge.

As the pandemic disrupts our lives in unprecedented ways, acts of kindness and care from colleagues make a huge difference. Jord is indebted to a number of our people around the world, for helping and guiding others at Jord who were in need of support at various times. India’s brutal second pandemic wave saw extraordinary acts of selflessness from, a number of individuals. We are grateful to the many people who went the extra mile to help others. Of particular note were :

Rinku Harijan, who went out of his way to assist colleagues in our Baroda design hub, by delivering food, medicine and running errands those who were ill at home or in hospital. He also volunteered to take extra responsibilities that lightened the load of others hit harder by the virus.

Jignesh Shah donated food kits and volunteered to help families in need via the Sanskriti Foundation, in partnership with Vadodara Municipal Corporation. Some 340 kits – 900kg of food – were delivered during the three months of nationwide lockdown. Jignesh also joined a few others at Jord in participating in a blood donation drive, when a local shortage of blood became evident..

Shweta Thakur and Parag Thakkar took it upon themselves to connect personally with everyone at Jord who were affected in both Baroda and Hyderabad. They encouraged people to talk openly, to help overcome fears, challenges and personal needs. They also assisted in accelerating the vaccination roll out in our offices. As a result, 100% of our Jord India people are now double vaccinated.

As daily COVID cases in India decline and vaccination rates increase, our two offices are returning to normal operation. We were pleased to see the teams come together to mark Jord’s 49th birthday and India’s 75th Independence Day. We’re proud of the Can Do attitude and strong team spirit they were able to demonstrate, despite the challenging times.

Taking place at Perth’s picturesque Leeming Spartan Cricket Ground, the home side ultimately triumphed in Jord’s annual World Cricket Challenge, in fast-fading light and on the very last ball.

The Aussies elected first use of the willow, posting a competitive 130 in the allotted 20 overs. In pursuit, the World XI were in dire straits at 3 for 8 after 6 overs. To the astonishment of the teeming, boisterous crowd, the tenacious World XI rebuilt to require just 7 runs from the final over.

Five super-tight balls on a length meant a 6 was needed off the final ball. Amidst calls for a Trevor Chappell under-arm, another beauty was bowled and the World XI fell short by 4.