Tokopedia’s EX cyclopedia

Summary

Elevating small businesses across a vast, diverse archipelago requires a workforce that genuinely believes in that mission — and Indonesia's leading online marketplace has built its employee experience strategy squarely around that sense of purpose. Tokopedia cultivates culture, growth and psychological safety among its employees, known internally as Nakamas, as the company scales its democratize-commerce mission.

Tokopedia's approach to sustaining a shared sense of purpose across a large and growing workforce, its emphasis on risk-taking and experimentation without fear of blame, and its response to pandemic-era workforce pressures — including its decision to avoid layoffs and pay cuts during a period when many peers were cutting costs — anchor that culture. Core employee experience objectives, from laying a strong cultural foundation to encouraging leaders to actively help others succeed, sit alongside the specific cultural drivers, including customer focus and an intrapreneurship mindset, that define how Nakamas operate day to day.

Tokopedia's benefits structure, including personal development workshops, mental health and tele-health services, and an open office culture built around minimal hierarchy and micromanagement, offers insight into how a fast-scaling marketplace sustains culture through hypergrowth.

• Covers Tokopedia's response to pandemic-era workforce pressures
• Details the intrapreneurship mindset and low-hierarchy culture behind its EX approach

Can a mission-driven culture survive hypergrowth without losing the sense of purpose that built it?