The Economic Times daily newspaper is available online now.

    Firms look for ways to keep home-based staff engaged

    Synopsis

    From virtual parties to food delivery, firms are going all out to fill the void left by water cooler conversations and cafeteria lunches.

    iStock-1127754905Getty Images
    Employees at Flipkart who have children are being encouraged to bring their young kids to greet colleagues during video meetings, to bring a "sense of togetherness".
    New Delhi: Pritam Thakur who lives by his own in Bengaluru used to take pride in the fact that his firm, homegrown regional-language social media platform ShareChat, celebrated every festival with a lot of fanfare in its offices.

    After ShareChat asked employees to work from home in the wake of the coronavirus outbreaks, weeks before the government called for a lockdown, Thakur, who is the head of content creation, misses some of that excitement and the socialising with friends and colleagues.

    But he is trying to make up for it by attending “virtual weekend parties” and online gaming contests being organised by the firm. Even during Ugadi, the new year in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, colleagues shared pictures of how they celebrated the festival at their homes.

    “Even if you can’t celebrate it together, seeing pictures certainty gives you the feel of the festival spirit,” Thakur said. He is also thankful for ShareChat’s tie-up with Freshmenu to ensure food deliveries for its employees during working hours, as he said: “Else, it would have been Maggi and sausages throughout.”

    Online tambola, digital chai breaks, workfromhome picture streams, bringing children to videoconferences and virtual lunches are fast filling the void left by water cooler conversations and cafeteria lunches in corporate offices across India, which entered into a nationwide lockdown for 21 days on Tuesday.

    Firms such as ShareChat and fintech firm Zeta are doing online gaming competitions and virtual lunches and other fun activities over videoconferencing to enable bonding of employees, as they work remotely.

    Employees at Flipkart who have children are being encouraged to bring their young kids to greet colleagues during video meetings, to bring a “sense of togetherness”. And the Walmart-owned firm has also created an online community where people are posting pictures of their #WorkFromHomeLife, which is helping them stay connected to each other. Employees are also being encouraged to take a ‘digital chai break’ and are being guided to schedule their work day.

    Swapna Nair, the vice-president for human resources at ShareChat, said the majority of the company’s workforce was young and living alone and it was important for the platform to understand their problems. “When we are expected to work completely remote with teams, it is very quick for a sense of dissonance to creep in. So, the conscious effort to stay connected and engaged is twice as much important than when we work out of the same physical office space.”

    The company has also realised that boredom can adversely impact an individual’s mental health, Nair said. “So, it’s equally important to have water cooler conversations and those casual tête-à-tête moments. Therefore, we initiated the concept of virtual lunches among teams, online fun contests, sharing workplace pictures in the Slack channel…”

    Apart from sharing pictures of their work from home setting, Deloitte India has set up a Covid helpline and confidential counselling helpline for employees and their families who may feel overwhelmed by the current situation.

    SV Nathan, the chief talent officer at Deloitte India, said: “In these times, reassurances about being taken care of and connecting with people is as important as advisories on health and work guidelines. It is a stressful time for many and especially so in case of a generation of young people who in many cases may be living away from their families, and find themselves deprived of their regular ‘hangouts’ and social circles.”

    Zeta chief technology officer Ramki Gaddipati said it was engaging the team with virtual team bonding activities like online games, virtual team lunches/tea, Video Conferencing enabled fun activities, etc.

    Other activities include, virtual dumb chardes and offline dino game challenge.

    Zeta is encouraging employees to start and end the day early and is setting up watercooler chatter time before lunch for 30 minutes where a zoom call is blocked and anyone can join in for some small talk. Every evening at 4pm, employees are sent a reminder to take a break by any means, be it through an activity, a simple exercise, reminder to drink water or a scavenger hunt done virtually.
    SIDBI MSME Conclave 2024 |Register Now.
    ...more
    SIDBI MSME Conclave 2024 |Register Now.
    ...more
    The Economic Times

    Stories you might be interested in