I met the HR head of a tech firm in Gurgaon recently. The organisation operates out of a co-working space and has a mandatory work from office philosophy.
The underlying reason was teamwork.
Well most non IT companies have a mandate for work from office.
But for some reason it comes to us as a surprise if a tech company asks its employees to work from office on all days.
The gentleman was pretty upbeat on the success of the work from office model, with the co-working space acting as an icing on the cake.
He said it wasn’t comfortable in the beginning as the average age in his organisation was in the mid 30s while for the plethora of start ups at the co-working the average age hovered in the mid 20s.
But he realised there was so much to learn in terms of the running of diverse businesses – being able to meet people across different industries.
There was a lot to learn from the youngsters – not just about technology but regarding values and respect.
He always saw the youngsters giving up their seat for a senior person at the lunch table and being more mindful of their conduct and language in front of senior age groups (a perception in contrast to what we generally carry)
There was a dedicated play zone in the office which had increased the bonding and teamwork within the organisation.
The team that eats together and plays together, stays together!
He told me of a recent inter company pool table championship. The winner was acknowledged as “The Guru” and was felicitated with gifts on Guru Purnima – how cool 🙂
All this was possible on account of a compulsory work from office culture!
I wish many more companies start looking at the pros of working from office – it’s about better teamwork.
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