BW PEOPLE MAGAZINE JUNE 2022-eBook

SPOTLIGHT

“THE FUTURE OF WORK “Companies Finally, SAP offers the best collabo-
IS AGILE AND DYNAMIC. Or- must transform rative and communication tools to
ganisations will provide greater their traditional enable easy and smooth collabora-
flexibility to employees without workplaces into tion regardless of where employees
compromising their business inter- activity-based are.
ests in the post-pandemic world. workstations that
A blended approach to work that encourage social SAP’s Flex Work Model
allows seamless orchestration be- interactions and Includes:
tween the workforce, combining enable better • Flex Location - Employees can
in-person and remote teams, will
be the norm. At SAP, our commit- collaboration work from any location ac-
ment to building the future of work between teams.” cording to their convenience.
is by championing a flexible and Less commuting time results
inclusive work environment that — Sindhu in more personal time for em-
is trust-based,” says Sindhu Gan- Gangadharan, MD, ployees and reduces the carbon
gadharan, MD, SAP Labs India & dioxide footprint, supporting
SVP, SAP User Enablement. SAP Labs India SAP’s sustainability goals.

The demand for a workplace the centre of its flexible work mod- • Flex Time - It allows employees
that offers greater flexibility will el is SAP SuccessFactors software, to control their working time
increase. The Covid-19 pandemic, which provides end-to-end human and empowers work efficiency.
which resulted in a transition from experience management (HXM)
on-premise to virtual mode, has solutions from the time employees • Flex Workspace - Activity-based
given companies and employees a are on-boarded and throughout office workspaces provide vari-
better understanding of produc- their careers. Additionally, SAP’s ous work settings and improve
tivity and collaboration in remote Qualtrics solution gives it instant employee experience and flex-
working. As a result, employees visibility into employee sentiments. ibility on SAP premises by of-
seek greater work flexibility and fering suitable space for every
do not prefer adhering to a specific activity.
location or time zone. SAP (abbre-
viated from Systems Analysis Pro- Offices that meet the needs
gram Development) has adopted for creativity, collaboration, com-
a location-agnostic work style for munity, and focused work will be-
several years, and this has helped it come more common, says Sindhu.
build a truly global workforce that “Employee health and wellness
can work from anywhere. and sustainability should be at the
core of the design principle of any
SAP’s recent employee survey office. The criteria should evolve
has shown that over 80 per cent beyond comfort and ergonomics
of SAP employees desire a mix of and adopt a more holistic outlook
work from home or remote and towards employee wellbeing. In
sometime in the office. Many in- addition, companies must trans-
dustry surveys also indicate that form their traditional workplaces
specific workgroups such as wom- into activity-based workstations
en and early talent benefit from a that encourage social interactions
flexible work environment. During and enable better collaboration be-
the pandemic, collaboration across tween teams.”
different industries and global
teams has unearthed new opportu- A Design Statement
nities and shown new possibilities, An example is SAP Labs India’s
redefining and rethinking work. new building at the Whitefield
campus which facilitates creativi-
According to Sindhu, SAP has ty, collaboration, community, and
leveraged its decades of proven focused work. It is a workspace
remote work practices to create a that prioritises sustainability and
‘Pledge to Flex’ model that is en- health. In addition, the facility has
tirely flexible and trust-based. At been certified for USGBC Leed

BW PEOPLE JUNE 2022 151 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM

SPOTLIGHT

Gold Standard for its futuristic and • The linear height-adjustable tems need minimum space,
energy-saving designs. The facil- desks and the rest of the lounge are low on maintenance, and
ity is designed and built to focus furniture are agile and give are more efficient. In addition,
on employee health and wellness. plenty of options for employees. better indoor air quality is guar-
The elements of air, water, nour- Moreover, the vibrancy, timber, anteed due to the greenery both
ishment, light, fitness, comfort and and greenery make the space an within and outside the building.
ergonomics, are the criteria of the extension of the outside to the
design principle. inside, thus paving the way for • Power over Ethernet (PoE)
• Large dwellings focused on a the flex/neighbourhood model intelligent lighting systems
of working. provide better light quality,
shared courtyard that brings all lower energy bills and length-
the elements together; similar- Technology for Green en fixture life. A PoE lighting
ly, the office is designed around Buildings platform and its fixtures use
three primary squares that bind The drive towards energy-efficient Ethernet cables to power lights
the people vertically and hori- buildings comes from a desire to (luminaires) and transmit data
zontally. contribute to environmental sus- between the luminaire and the
• Each courtyard represents tainability and for the benefits of control software. An onsite so-
the uniqueness of the states energy savings. Today, facilities lar plant grid takes care of the
to which it is dedicated - Goa, are expected to be energy-efficient. power needs.
Kerala, and Rajasthan. Similar- There are more ways to achieve
ly, the rich cultural diversity of green efficiency than use of green SAP’s facility complies with the
Indian states is represented in renewable energy sources and im- Rights of Persons with Disabilities
the upper floors as themes. proved insulation. The main fea- Act, 2016 (RPwD), which man-
• The office is open and envel- tures of the new SAP building in- dates conformance to accessibility
oped with biophilia both with- clude: standards and recognises that rea-
in and outside. The workspac- • Air conditioning systems that sonable accommodation and uni-
es are intercepted with social versal design are critical for facili-
spaces and discussion pockets provide maximum efficiency tating access equitably.
and both co-exist in harmony. with minimal energy consump-
tion without water. These sys- “Our vision is to create barri-
BW PEOPLE JUNE 2022 152 er-free environments that enhance
individuals’ independence, quality
of life, and contribution to society,”
says Sindhu.

He adds, “The pandemic repre-
sents an inflection point that will
significantly re-shape the future of
work over the next five years – and
likely beyond. At SAP Labs India,
we are proud to lead this change
and eager to learn more to create
an employee-centred experience
for an inclusive global workforce.”

WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM

BOOK REVIEW

ABOUT THE BOOK

Coaching: The (Secret) Code to Uncommon

Leadership

Author: Ruchira Chaudhary
Pages: 356
Price: Rs 599
Publisher: Penguin Random House India

RAISING Numerous surveys show that managers have the sin-
CAPABLE gle largest impact on the turnover and retention, while
TEAM learning and opportunities for career development are
MEMBERS often top drivers of employee engagement. The point
is reinforced by a detailed research from US based an-
E xemplary leaders coach their people, who alytics advisory, research and polling firm Gallup; the
in turn coach their teams. Bill Gates start- study show us that irrespective of industry or the size
ed his famous Ted Talk by saying every- of operation or location, performance fluctuates widely,
one needs a coach. Alan Lafley of P&G primarily due to the lack of consistency in how people
are managed.
was coached by Peter Drucker, Jack Welch of GE was
While there are many books on leadership or on
coached by Ram Charan and Jeff Bezos was coached by coaching, this would be one of the few that build the
business case for the leader as a coach. This book aims to
Bill Campbell. focus on the leader as a coach because the leader alone
can help her team members excel and play to their po-
BW PEOPLE JUNE 2022 153 tential. It’s vital to understand that coaching is about en-
ablement and building the next line of leaders. It’s about
motivating and inspiring but it’s also about ensuring
people learn on the job. And importantly it’s the leader’s
responsibility to make that happen.

The book by Ruchira Chowdhury explores how man-
agers can morph into leaders extraordinaire by taking
simple actions that will help shape their leadership styles
and build a coaching culture. Hence the book’s sole fo-
cus is on helping senior or aspiring managers to become
better leaders by becoming a coach and an enabler.

However, this book does not aim to provide a laun-
dry list of coaching skills one needs to have to be a lead-
er. On the contrary, it talks about how uncomplicated
actions can shape one’s leadership style and make her a
better leader as she moves up the corporate value chain.

This book is for everyone: a young manager who has
recently taken on a supervisory role or one who has been
around the block; someone who already leads a large
team or someone who aspires to be a manager. Someone
who is starting up your own venture, or a highly skilled
individual performer or one that leads agile teams.

This book is about coaching one’s way to Uncommon
Leadership — about helping senior or aspiring manag-
ers to become better leaders by becoming a coach and
an enabler. 

WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM

WELLBEING

Fighting the Silent
Pandemic

› Mental health is just not the absence of mental disorders or
disabilities

By Madhurima Mishra

O bserved internationally since 1992, The or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses
World Mental Health Day’s theme for of life, can work productively and is able to make a con-
2021 was “Mental health care for all: let’s tribution to his or her community.” Unfortunately, many
make it a reality.” At this juncture, it is countries have been grappling with the challenge of poor
mental health for the past several years — estimates by
critical to analyse the progress that we have achieved so the WHO suggest that mental illnesses constitute nearly
15 per cent of the total disease conditions worldwide. A
far in fighting the silent pandemic of poor mental health. study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Re-
search estimated that about one in every seven individ-
Mental health is just not the absence of mental disor-
WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM
ders or disabilities. The WHO defines mental health as

“a state of well-being in which an individual realises his

BW PEOPLE JUNE 2022 154

WELLBEING

Photograph by CANVA uals in India suffered from mental “Psychiatrists a mobile application, ‘WHO M-Yo-
disorders (primarily depression and are noticing a ga,’ which provides videos of Yoga
anxiety disorders) of varying severi- surge in panic training and practice. Such fusions
ty in 2017. Also, a report by the Na- attacks, phobias, of modern technology and ancient
tional Crime Records Bureau notes post-traumatic science can help us achieve better
that India registered nearly 381 sui- stress disorders, mental health, especially during
cide cases every day in 2019. paranoia, and the ongoing pandemic. Second, the
WHO has developed new material,
More recently, the Covid-19 pan- obsessive- in easy-to-read formats, on how one
demic has aggravated the pre-ex- compulsive can take care of one’s mental health
isting mental health crisis in sev- disorders in and provide support to others. The
eral parts of the world. Vulnerable recent times” popular press and social media plat-
groups such as health and frontline forms like WhatsApp, YouTube, and
workers, people with prior mental by the Indian Psychiatry Society are Twitter could be leveraged for the
health conditions, and people living not surprising, wherein a 20 per widespread circulation of this ma-
alone have been particularly affect- cent increase in patients with men- terial. Doing so would reduce the
ed. According to a joint report pub- tal health illnesses has been record- stigma around mental health and
lished by the International Labour ed since the Covid-19 outbreak. help raise societal awareness of the
Organization and the Asia Devel- actionable interventions that may
opment Bank, as many as 4.1 mil- Effective Measures be performed to improve mental
lion individuals lost their jobs due A variety of steps could be taken health.
to the pandemic. The loss of liveli- to address the prevailing mental
hood coupled with social exclusion health crisis. First, Yoga can help Finally, more companies could
contributed to increased cases of us in improving our mental health. invest in the delivery of mental
anxiety, depression, insomnia, sub- Research published in the Journal healthcare as a part of their corpo-
stance abuse, and intimate partner of Psychiatric Practice notes that rate social responsibility initiatives.
violence. Millions of people have Yoga can be a helpful complemen- To begin with, companies can tie
lost or fear losing their loved ones tary treatment for clinical depres- up with health organisations and
to the deadly Coronavirus. Psychi- sion or major depressive disorders. ensure the provision of telehealth
atrists are noticing a surge in pan- Given the numerous mental health services (by certified psychologists
ic attacks, phobias, post-traumatic benefits of Yoga, Prime Minister Sh. and psychiatrists) to their employ-
stress disorders, paranoia, and OCD Narendra Modi recently launched ees. Larger companies could ex-
(obsessive-compulsive disorders) tend mental health support to more
in recent times. Accordingly, the distant stakeholders by setting up
results of a recent study conducted mental health facilities that hire li-
censed professionals (for therapy
and counselling services) and offer
nominally-priced healthcare servic-
es online and offline. Companies like
Infosys, TCS, Aditya Birla Group,
and ITC Limited have already come
forward for such initiatives. More
companies need to follow suit to
scale up the delivery of quality men-
tal healthcare. It is hoped that such
initiatives would spearhead India’s
fight against poor mental health
and help make mental health care
accessible to everyone. 

BW PEOPLE JUNE 2022 155 About the author
The author is an Assistant Professor at
Great Lakes Institute of Management,

Gurugram. Views expressed are
personal.

WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM

HR’S UNWINDING

GOLFING WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM
AWAY THE
STRESS

BW PEOPLE JUNE 2022 156

HR’S UNWINDING

› With a diverse
& multi industry
experience of more
than 19 years,
Ashish Anand,
CHRO, SAR Group
of Companies is
an ardent golf
player and loves
to unwind himself
from the hectic
work schedule quite
often.

1. Favourite cuisine WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM
Chinese and Kebabs

2. Best way of unwinding with family
Daily chit-chats, along with an amazing game of golf.

3. Dream destination
Northern Lights

4. Tune you like to hum
Mark Knopfler songs or any in fashion latest Hindi song

5. Your go to casual attire
Denim and T-shirt

6. Beach person or hills
completely beach

7. Fitness mantra
eat light, exercise daily and golf

BW PEOPLE JUNE 2022 157

LEADER-SPEAK “It’s all about asking good questions
and really listening actively. And
“When it comes to risk taking, in many respects, through that fall
I have my neck to offer... when (of 2018), I really continued that
the CEO of my company needs inside of the company not only in
to take a risky decision, I will the corporate office, but within the
understand and put my neck businesses, shop floors, out with
in front of the shareholders, salespeople.”
stakeholders, board etc. This
combination is very powerful.” — GE CEO Larry Culp, on getting the
pulse of people, in Fortune.com
— Sunil Mittal, Chairperson,
Bharti Airtel, at an event “We know what stress does to workers.
organised by All India We need to learn the soft skills, good
Management Association old-fashioned management practies, so
people have their wellbeing taken care
of. I can set that expectation, that our
people can get an email from the CEO
on the weekend and not feel that they
have to respond.”

— Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft,
speaking at the Wharton Future of Work

Conference, as reported by Bloomberg

With hindsight of Covid over 2
years, I am even more convinced
that we are in a never normal
world. Change is at a speed
unthinkable by human race earlier.

— Uday Kotak, Executive Vice-
Chairman and MD, Kotak

Mahindra Bank, on Twitter

“The entire world order is changng n “You are blessed to be entering a
rather changed, the constitution also world which is now increasingly
amendng, vt does not change r the risk-friendly. Spend the early
policies of #HR years of your career taking
the right risks and make some
Hum nai badlenge jab tk kuch #crisis bold bets on yourself. And
na ho jayein, wat vision do they remember... it is never too late to
envisage??” start all over again.”

— HR coach Major Namrata — Nykaa CEO Falguni Nayar,
Dhasmana, on twitter at 57th IIM-Ahmedabad
convocation

BW PEOPLE JUNE 2022 158 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM



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