Turning Workplaces into Employer Brands: A Conversation with the Founders of Amazing Workplaces®
In today’s talent-driven world, standing out as an employer of choice demands more than a positive culture, it requires being truly exceptional. Co-founders Ekta Capoor and Shreyasi Raghav envisioned an ecosystem that helps organizations evolve into authentic employer brands through structured evaluation, learning, and recognition. Their initiatives, including the Amazing Workplaces® Certification, knowledge events, and the Amazing Workplaces® Podcast, all serve one purpose, helping organizations create meaningful and people-centric experiences.
Q1. What inspired the creation of Amazing Workplaces®?
Ekta Capoor:
Our vision from the very start was to help organizations build environments where people feel connected, valued, and motivated. We observed many companies doing remarkable internal work but unable to communicate it effectively, while others struggled to understand what defines an impactful people strategy. Amazing Workplaces® emerged as a way to bridge that gap through a platform that recognizes, strengthens, and validates authentic workplace practices.
Shreyasi Raghav:
We also noticed that employer branding often stayed limited to external communication. We wanted to bring focus back to the core, building credible, people-first organizations. Every company, regardless of size, can become an aspirational employer if it grounds its culture in trust, inclusion, and growth.
Q2. How does the Amazing Workplaces® Certification strengthen employer brands?
Shreyasi Raghav:
The certification is not just an endorsement, it’s a structured reflection process. Our employee survey, designed around the proprietary 9 Pillar Framework, examines every essential area of organisational life, from culture and leadership to diversity, learning, and compliance.
Organizations that achieve 70 percent and above are certified as Amazing Workplaces®. However, the true advantage lies in the insights. Leaders receive data that highlights both strengths and opportunities, helping them focus their actions strategically and build stronger alignment across teams.
Ekta Capoor:
The process is confidential and insight-driven, which motivates openness. Many leaders use the findings as a springboard for deeper cultural improvements. Certification becomes the beginning of a journey toward sustained people excellence, not a final milestone.
Q3. Beyond certification, you also curate events that spotlight workplace achievements.
Ekta Capoor:
Our StoHRies series of events is a space for meaningful conversations around real workplace experiences. It brings together HR leaders, entrepreneurs, and culture champions to share stories that inspire learning and reflection. Each session is designed to move beyond theory and highlight what’s actually working in organizations today.
Shreyasi Raghav:
With StoHRies, our intent has always been to create dialogue, not deliver monologues. It’s about sharing journeys, challenges, and lessons that others can relate to and learn from. The stories we feature are rooted in authenticity and data, not sponsorship, making every conversation both credible and actionable.
Q4. The Amazing Workplaces® Podcast is also gaining attention. How does it complement your mission?
Shreyasi Raghav:
Our podcast gives leaders a voice to share their philosophies and experiences that shape their work cultures. It’s storytelling rooted in real journeys, how values translate into action every day.
Ekta Capoor:
That’s right. Sharing stories is as important as building systems. Through the podcast, listeners, especially young professionals, can understand how credible leadership and consistency turn vision into real workplace impact.
Q5. How do your initiatives together help organizations build employer brands?
Ekta Capoor:
Each initiative is part of a connected framework. The Certification offers data and credibility. The StoHRies events create visibility and shared learning. The Podcast amplifies leadership voices and real experiences. And our Workplace Best Practices’ Articles capture insights, trends, and stories that keep the conversation around people and culture alive year-round. Together, they give organizations a complete path to shape and sustain their people narrative.
Shreyasi Raghav:
The foundation of all our work is authenticity. An employer brand should mirror reality. Through our content, conversations, and collaborations, we help organizations build strength from within, and then tell that story with honesty and purpose.
Q6. What’s next for Amazing Workplaces®?
Shreyasi Raghav:
We’re continuously strengthening our Certification framework and expanding our research-driven approach to understanding what truly makes workplaces amazing. The goal is to create deeper insights that help organizations not just benchmark themselves, but also take tangible steps toward improvement.
Ekta Capoor:
We are also building global partnerships to take the Amazing Workplaces® message beyond India. The aim is to make “Amazing Workplaces” synonymous with credible employer branding, where authentic practices, data-driven insights, and inspiring stories come together to shape organizations people genuinely want to be part of.
Q7. What advice would you give to organizations aspiring to become Amazing Workplaces?
Ekta Capoor:
Every transformation starts from the inside. Focus on your people’s experience, build trust, and stay consistent. When employees feel supported and respected, the employer brand naturally strengthens.
Shreyasi Raghav:
Progress matters more than perfection. Small, meaningful actions sustained over time create a culture employees take pride in. That’s what defines an amazing workplace.
In a time when every organization talks about valuing its people, Amazing Workplaces® is helping them live that promise. By blending data-driven insights with authentic storytelling, it transforms intent into lasting impact. More than a platform, it’s a movement to make work more human – helping organizations measure where they stand, learn from the best, and celebrate their progress. What emerges are not just better workplaces, but stronger, more connected communities where people thrive, contribute, and grow.
