About CT Sadanandan, VP & Head – Corporate Services, BCM & CSR, Tata Communications:
He is responsible for the entire bouquet of business enabling services such as workplace support, facilities & infrastructure, travel & mobility, physical & environmental security, workplace safety and business continuity management for the company.
What were some of the top priorities while implementing the business continuity plan for the company?
The past year posed unprecedented challenges. But, our priority has always been the safety and security of our workforce, so we kept a close watch on the environment as it was developing, following credible reports and ensuring we were communicating, both to the management and the employees in a transparent manner. We took a close look at the business requirements while implementing ‘work from home’ for almost 98% of our staff across all the countries we are present in. The strategies included enhanced safety protocols and safety apparatus at our facilities.
As we are part of the telecom industry, we needed staff to come to office or travel to our customer sites. So the priorities were managing the rotation, facilitating ease of working from home; frequent communication on the risks and safety measures to be taken by our employees, facilitating COVID tests at the locations where employees were required to operate from, due to business criticalities and coordinated efforts on vaccination, which was driven in key cities for our employees as well as their families..
How has the workplace landscape transformed in the post-pandemic era; and how has Tata Communications adapted its approach?
We have seen rapid changes in the workplace design concepts in the past few years. This has been further accentuated by the pandemic. However the requirements would differ with the need of the business – so there cannot be a one-size-fit-all approach here. Looking through the lens of business segments traditionally known to have typical offices with optimization and multi-user approach, the emphasis would need to be on creating workplaces that promote good health and safety which is more important than the optimization of real estate.
In the short term, as organizations plan “Return to Office” there will be the need to modify the existing dense work environments to facilitate adequate spacing and enhanced air quality supported with solutions and services aligned to enhance surface hygiene. In the long term, the design approach would need to change to incorporate all the safety requirements right upfront – which could mean lower space utilization, so increased real estate costs. However, this should get off-set to a certain extent through the hybrid work model.
If we look the need for a safe and healthy workplace, many of the concepts would need to be re-assessed – some examples are; densification of the space – the square foot to a seat thumb rules; the fad of the recent years large open offices – may not sustain in many business environments, the size to capacity parameters for meeting rooms, how we plan the entry/ exits to workplaces etc. I believe there is a need for a group industry experts – HR, Facilities, architects, designers and most importantly the users – to share views and create an approach on this
The pandemic has really highlighted the need for technology solutions in the areas of facilities and real estate management. The opportunities for digital adoption are plenty – such as the need for real-time monitoring of hygiene at the workplace, safely yet optimally, manage the capacities through efficient seat booking/ assignment tool; tools to safely manage the use of common services and facilities etc.
Safety, today, as important a priority as sustainalibity. How are companies balancing the two aspects?
The pandemic has highlighted multiple opportunities to further enhance the focus on sustainability from a facilities/ workplace management perspective – such as reduced energy consumption, low usage transport, reduced waste generation, etc. These lessons are being critically evaluated to ascertain the positive impact from a long term and calibrate the workplace strategies around that