Currently, Dr Abhijeet Sarkar heads two independent functions within the company, which are administration and procurement.
His role includes corporate real estate, general administration, infrastructure & project management, travel and MICE and sourcing for Sharekhan and all its subsidiaries.
He holds a doctorate in management studies, further holding diploma in architecture and design. He is also a certified Sig Sigma Black belt, certified procurement and supply chain manager and certified scrum manager. He is also a Fellow with Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyor London, Member of Leaders Excellence, Harvard Square & Certified Green Building Professional certified by Assocham Gem Green Building Council.
Q:What are some of the key strategies implemented by the team for the company in the past year to ensure safety and workplace efficiency?
Ans: Facility managers were always known to be someone who are in charge of ensuring the built environment is functional and safe and are always supporting the organisation accordingly. During the pandemic, we have seen a major paradigm shift in the role of the facility managers, which has not only gained prominence as the world has recognised the essential role facilities team played as a host that supports the daily interactions of occupants and visitors. All the facility managers strongly demonstrated the skills to work outside of their normal bubble. While employee’s safety was always important, and it cannot be compromised at any cost. Facility managers really showed they are true front-line warrior, while owning the responsibility of the safety of employees and workplace as per the protocols and regulatory guidance. Healthy and safety is paramount and is now becoming one of the areas which is now highly focused by every organisation.
While we saw the globe being hit by this pandemic, strictly practicing appropriate Covid-19 behavior was very important to curtail the spread and restrict the transmission. And every organization and the facility managers created a robust process of safety to ensure that their employees or customers who come to office are not only safe,, but they come with the confidence that the workplace or the premises is very much safe form any exposure. While communication during this period was paramount and organizations created various approach to ensure that the employees are updated from time to time either through mails, SMS, WhatsApp messages or a Mobile app which many organizations developed, or many already had that as a communication tool.
The important process related to safety that was implemented by the organization and to be followed by all the employees and the visitors are:
a) Implementation of hierarchy of controls which included installing barriers between employees. Using line managers to keep customers/visitors from queuing within six feet of work areas. Adjusting ventilation systems to introduce additional outside air and/or increase air exchange to introduce fresh air. Modifying physical workspaces to increase the distance between employees. Social distancing is mandatory and in RTO strategy the workplace where redesign keeping this factor in mind whereby only marking those workstations which can be used as per social distancing norms and disabling rest of the workplaces. The same was applicable to the entire facility including restrooms and cafeterias.
b) Implementation of administrative controls and safe work practices which includes changing policies and procedures for how employees perform job duties to ensure work activities are conducted safely. Limiting the number of employees to work from office and allowing rest of the employees to work from home. Posting signage to remind employees on safety protocols ,customers and visitors to follow appropriate ‘Covid behavior including maintaining the distance of at least 6 feet between one another and to practice regular hand hygiene & wear masks. Increasing the frequency of cleaning and disinfection within the work site. Use of PPE Kit for those managing engineering services so that all preventive check which requires involvement of an agency to visit is allowed with these protocols. Thermal temperature screening was mandatory and with the technology emerging we saw lot of options which worked more than a screening and with technology integrating the same with access whereby eliminating the manual intervention which means if the scanning parameters are not met, the access is restricted. Constant communication on practicing good respiratory etiquette.
What has been the impact of the low-touch economy on workplace design AND operations? Could you share with us what you identify as the short-term fads and long-term trends in this sector?
The low-touch economy, or the contactless economy, refers to interpersonal and other interactions whereby there is no or bare minimum physical contact. The main idea of the low-touch economy is to prevent germs spreading through touching different surfaces or being in close and direct proximity of other people in business environments. The aspect of the low-touch economy, together with its tools and technologies is really significantly important for all the organizations.
There are many short terms measures that fit into the low-touch-economy umbrella, such as social distancing, video conferencing, glass protection walls and visors, remote work, and so on. We can also add solutions such as automatic doors, limiting the number of people in one room, etc.
While sharing my view on long terms measures, we saw that restrictions on employees travel and with the collaborative tools well tested and used, we can see that the travel guideless and the need would definitely be now relooked by most of the organizations. Another important element or measures coming out of the low-touch economy which we saw was trending and could be adapted by many, is embracing remote work and exploring being a digital company further accompanied by innovation on the business model level, which will also enable the organizations and its employees to be better prepared for similar situations like Covid 19. The Low Touch Economy and remote work enabled employees to work from anywhere, even the comfort of their homes. This new experience will inevitably lead to greater acceptance and more wide-spread implementation of mobile workplaces and flexible working hours. Providing the remote work option for employees is one of the most obvious ways to adapt to the low-touch economy. If employees are working from home, there is no physical touch between them, and thus lower risk of transmission of infections.
Given the accelerated pace of transformation, what emerging technologies is the industry working with?
The world of facility management encompasses many things, and it’s always evolving. Facility management professionals today are tasked with not only improving operations and reducing costs, but also creating a better overall work environment. To stay successful in facility management, you need to keep up with the latest trends and technologies and some of the technologies which the industry is working with or heading to work with are as under. This is the technologies that will have the greatest long-term impact and offer improvements for facilities management.
HVAC technology: HVAC comprises a significant portion of the building’s electric bill. Any way to cut back on energy consumption is a big win, both financially and environmentally. New HVAC technology powered by the Internet of Things (IoT) is making it easier than ever to curb energy usage while improving the workplace experience. This technology can help facility management team identify and reduce energy waste, automate climate regulation, and stay on top of HVAC preventive maintenance. Smart thermostats and climate zones help keep areas comfortable for employees while ensuring server rooms and other equipment areas stay cool.
Building Information Modeling (BIM) is the process of creating and managing digital models of physical buildings. While it’s by no means a “new” technology, it has become much more powerful in recent years. BIM technology enables organizations to visualize specific components of a space, including structural elements like walls and windows and exact asset locations. Modern BIM is a highly intelligent, supercharged version of 3-D modeling. BIM helps facility managers make data-driven decisions about space utilization, energy consumption, and redesigns.
AI-based technologies use to perform complex tasks that previously required human intelligence. AI can replace many repetitive and tedious facility management tasks. For example, it can collect, store, and analyze massive data sets in seconds. It also allows facilities leaders to be more proactive when it comes to asset performance management. If a system detects a potential issue, it will send an automated update. This can help facility managers to correct the issue before it becomes a bigger problem.
IoT-based sensors unlock valuable insights, facility management leaders can use these sensors to reduce real estate costs and improve the overall workplace experience for employees. Integrating sensors with the facility management system ,these sensors can perform various task and one of them is that they can also make room booking, maintenance, and asset management more efficient.
Mobile Apps: Modern facility management isn’t just about maintaining buildings. It’s about managing the changing needs of the workforce. As the workforce becomes increasingly distributed and mobile, employees need a quick way to access the people, spaces, and services that allow them to be productive. Mobile apps with this capability do more than improve the employee experience, they also collect valuable real-time data that can improve operational efficiency and help business leaders and facility management teams plan ahead. With flexible seating model like hot desking, employees will need an easy way to reserve desks. This app will play important role in managing those requirements.
Sustainability was a key factor for every company prior to the pandemic; has it now taken a back seat? How are companies working towards balancing sustainability with safety in the post-pandemic era?
Ans AS: COVID-19 pandemic, is indeed a wake-up call for all inhabitants of Mother Earth. The impact of COVID-19 pandemic which has brought into our working lives is unlikely to disappear anytime soon. It is truly a Black Swan event Its high time when we all must come & work together to protect our planet and ecosystems, which affect every aspect of human life. It’s very imperative for all of us to now the change our perception and preserve Mother Earth through a paradigm shift from a human-centric society to an Earth-centered global ecosystem.
Sustainability is becoming more important for all companies, across all industries, opportunities and challenges have emerged for organizations to continue, or adopt, environmentally friendly practices that also have a business case. Many corporates are committing themselves towards net zero emission. As the expectations on corporate responsibility increases and as transparency becomes more prevalent, companies are recognizing the need to act on sustainability. We will definitely see that many organizations would adapt good sustainability practices by embedding sustainability in their business processes and culture. The corona crisis is acting as an accelerator of digitalization, which can also help us to see the current crisis as an opportunity to achieve greater climate neutrality. Remote work is slowly but surely forcing companies to digitize their manual processes Technology will be designed and used in such a way that they provide positive impulses for socio-cultural and ecological changes.
While we see emphasis on sustainability increasing, we can see new safety initiatives to enhance security will be introduced and practiced. Emphasize on clean desk policy will increase. Many organizations have long held that it is desirable for employees to secure all work papers, files and laptop computers at the end of each business day, prior to departing the office. This practice helps mitigate risks of exposing client data and company proprietary information. However, we rarely see this policy very well adhered to as we conduct physical security reviews. Technology like, PIN code or biometric readers and environmental detection will be largely adapted.
It is important agree that sustainability ,safety & security is everyone’s responsibility, each leader, stakeholder and contributor must be cognizant of sound emergency preparedness and security operations and programs. More than that, each colleague must be committed to the safety and security of the employees and workplace.
Can you see any elements in workplace design that will disappear?
Ans AS: Post-Pandemic Workplace Design will definitely not be the same where we left it before Covid impacted all.
Many economists and researchers view that the return to the physical office will be dependent on many factors, including how safe people feel traveling to and spending time in the workplace.
This may be the first global pandemic that hit the globe so severely, but this is also a trial and an opportunity to be better prepared for a resurgence of the next pandemic that may befall us.
Technology will play important role while designing a workplace and the flexibility offered by mass-adoption of new technologies, and perhaps more flexible policies around remote working, will change the design dynamics. The role of a fixed office or workspace post pandemic will definitely will be diluted as work from home seems to have served well for many.
With the experience of working from home fresh in the employees’ minds, many may well come to appreciate just how important separation of work and home can be for mental health and well-being. The pandemic provides the opportunity to create a new language of workplace design, to envision something different. Office design doesn’t need to be cold and sterile but can be itself instead of channeling other spaces.
Earlier, one of the key elements in the design that was considered was to create access to shared infrastructure like computers, printers, Xerox machines, etc, now with the emerging technology and documents moving to cloud with secured access, the focus shifts to building social bonds. We will see concept of more collaborative places being part of a design ,creating smaller “neighborhoods” or “pods” of agile seating, and teamwork rooms which allows for clusters with partially assigned seats is likely to gain traction at an accelerated clip.
Travel will be limited, which will put an increased demand on video calls and meetings. Video calls were on the rise prior to the pandemic, but now companies will likely be looking to invest in more phone-rooms or small video call rooms, perhaps by converting larger meeting rooms into multiple, small video call rooms. Newer technologies will bring people together & become increasingly important in workspaces. We have already seen many developers have started implementing the building designs with touch less elevators. Covid have given new dimensions to manage the HVAC systems and now the importance towards installation of Air-filters and Air quality monitoring systems will be implemented in large way.
A learning from covid 19 is that future-workspace design needs to be flexible enough to quickly adopt to meet occupier needs & modularised designs will help in managing fluctuations in employee strength, augmentation, and cost reduction and technology will play an increasingly critical role in all future workplace design.