To be (back) or not to be!

Earlier this week, I was excited and anxious at the same time. Having spent 11+ months away from office and settled into a routine of operating from my home town (Mohali), I had a situation that demanded my presence in office for a couple of days. The fact that I have elderly parents at home, added to the anxiety.

With a prayer on my lips I made my way towards the train station and boarded the Shatabdi to Delhi. I have made this train ride every week for the last 5 years. Things were same, but different. Everyone (almost 😊) was masked up, the customary chai breakfast was nowhere to be seen but the chai-biscuit namkeen vendors were out there in numbers, offering their fares.

Unlocked my home (Mind you, this was after almost a year) and a puff of dust greeted me. Two hundred sneezes later, as the dust worked its way out of my respiratory system, I gathered my senses and got going at giving the house a scrubbing along with the domestic help.

The GlobalLogic cab (Till things return to normal, Employee Services is offering door to door pickup and drop for employees who need to be in office) arrived at the designated time to get me to the office. The cab was sanitized, driver was wearing a mask and there was a sense of calm about him – Sir, cabs have been ferrying employees throughout the pandemic. Our IT, ES and few engineering teams have been in office all through - he guessed my anxiety and offered some reassurance.

I walked up the escalator and the beautiful reception of our office came into sight. My heart still skips a beat in amazement whenever I come up those stairs – we have together built one of the swankiest workplaces across the globe. As I walked in, I was asked to sanitize my hands, get my temperature scanned as well as my office bag was given a hosing of disinfectant. Well marked spaces for maintaining social distance were visible all across.

I got in the elevator and made my way to my desk on the 6th floor. A wellness kit greeted me at my desk and as I looked at the scribbles on the whiteboard and the charts on the pin board – I realized one thing – I had stopped thinking about the business the way I used to. Yes I was working doubly hard at home, sometimes 15-16 hours day, but somehow I had stopped thinking orthogonally. I was just executing and that needed to change.

Settled into a groove and spent the next 2 days collaborating intensely – making plans to efficiently tackle the huge growth wave that we are riding, making sure that we deliver to our commitments and more importantly making sure that we continue translating company growth to employee growth. I felt alive, focused and got a lot done in those 2 days. Most amazing was just getting to see my amazing work friends after so long. Although we speak and see each other on a daily basis on hangouts and audio calls, just being together washed away any anxiety that we may have caused each other across the digital divide.

I also heard about the team that had a major release going out and felt that collaborating in person for a day would make things a lot more easier. They rostered themselves in (No manager asked them to!), worked together for 8-10 hours and walked away smiling – having achieved something with ease that would have been quite tight and anxiety filled had they been remote. Hats off to that commendable spirit that so defines GlobalLogic.

As I made my way back from office on the 2nd day – my mind was abuzz;

• What should the future be like? Companies are talking full remote working, others are talking about coming back to office full time in the near future. What should GL do?
• What should we be doing in the near future – Just a week ago it seemed like the pandemic was fading away. And now there are pockets showing signs of resurgence. How do we balance between wellness and the need to collaborate in person?

We have always been known for being one of the most flexible work cultures in the country. The work from home and remote concepts that are buzzwords these days, have always been part of business as usual at GL. Together we need to search for a new answer, the new definition of flexibility that works for our people as well as for our work. We will monitor the situation as it evolves, on a daily/weekly basis and see what makes sense; where and when (As an example, we have advised the teams in Pune & Nagpur to stay at home and ONLY critical staff are coming in). We were amongst the select few firms that eased off into a full work from home mode when the pandemic stuck and aspire to be industry leading again as we define the future of Digital Product Engineering and ways of working.

As for me, inspired by the indomitable GlobalLogic spirit, I intend to balance between remote and on premise and plan to roster myself in office again; soon!