Smartphone application Truecaller last month organised an offsite for over 100 employees from offices in Gurugram, Mumbai and Bengaluru in Goa. The team wanted to use this period of waning Covid cases to meet everyone in person and know their colleagues. “It’s been two years since everyone has been working from home. We planned a simple agenda: meet colleagues, share learnings and make friends. And what better location than Goa,” says Rishit Jhunjhunwala, chief product officer and managing director India, Truecaller.
Besides unwinding, corporates look at such sessions to energise or get the team together for brainstorming sessions, energy-filled ‘thought-spot’ sessions (debate and discussion on product innovation, market comparisons, design ideas) and take gossip sessions offline. True Elements, a D2C start-up, healthy breakfast and snacks brand, has planned a team outing in May at an eco-tourism hotspot located between Mumbai and Pune. “It will be a mix of work and play driven by introspection, planning for ahead, bonding and engagement, keeping the suits and ties aside,” says Sreejith Moolayil, co-founder & COO, True Elements.
Queries for island tours in Goa, for instance, followed by a curated lunch in a Portuguese house, are in demand for customised offbeat experiences post-pandemic. “There is a conscious approach to activities as most look for a customised and sustainable itinerary that include fun activities, local cuisine, and sightseeing at surrounding cultural hubs,” says Samarth Kholkar, CEO and co-founder of Arcis Clean Energy, who operates electric vehicle-based travel platform BLive and offers curated tours on electric cycles in Goa and Pondicherry. Right now, he is curating three-four corporate events a month.
Wellness sessions are big too. “The pandemic has made industries realise that personal development and wellness are just as important as meeting targets and deadlines,” says Pulkit Sharma, co-founder & creative director, You Can Dance.
“Our sessions are designed to improve performance, boost confidence, reduce fatigue, increase mental alertness and enhance body coordination,” he adds. You Can Dance is a dance start-up that has been getting several queries from corporates to conduct sessions.
Last month, the Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) rolled out a ‘look good feel good’ training that included grooming and dance wellness sessions for over 300 associates of 48 nationalities at the Taj Exotica Resort & Spa, The Palm, Dubai.
“Those getting back to office after a long time are enthusiastic about meeting colleagues and face-to-face interactions. Thus, we have plans to celebrate our founder’s day in July as opposed to doing it online as in the past two years,” says Suman Kumar Ghosh, head of human resources, Bajaj Electricals Limited, who in addition to various wellness and training programmes, is looking to reinitiate travel as a part of the rewards and recognition programme for high performing employees this year.
Staycations are considered convenient for the safety of employees as well as to break the monotony from a workplace environment. Smartphone manufacturer RealMe chose Club Florence in Gurugram for 120 employees last month. “Most people are still cautious so the location served as a convenient option where employees didn’t have to stay overnight, but relax, enjoy and travel back home. We had six ice-breaking activities which included war field, space hopper, etc,” shares a RealMe spokesperson.
The culture at Sirona Hygiene is quite collaborative as a startup that offers intimate and menstrual hygiene products for women. It is planning a staycation in Delhi-NCR in May. “A change of venue, that too in an informal setting, is the need of the hour as we start our marathon to grow 2.5x this financial year. The idea is to align employees’ personal goals to the larger organisational objectives. Setting up personal goals, rewarding loyal employees, or pool-side parties break the monotony. The team is so caught up with the daily to-do list that we want this one day to reaffirm our company culture and align them to the company’s broader vision,” says Deep Bajaj, founder, Sirona Hygiene.
AB InBev, beverage and brewing company, organised an offsite in a luxury hotel in Bengaluru in March to recognise and reward employees. “An Oscar-themed night with a cook-off and a musical stage play with over 200 employees resulted in a power-packed event that combined strategy and business with team-building activities and mentorship sessions from experts,” says Tanvi Rohatgi, people director – India & South East Asia, AB InBev.
For a fully remote company, Salt app, a finserv app for women that started during the pandemic, has teams located across seven locations across the globe. It was a restored home in Pondicherry that made the team work, talk, think, play, cook, and sail together. “While we build, solve, engage, fight, resolve, wine and whine on Zoom, we wonder about people’s height, slouch, frown or skills in the physical world. We figured our pizzas and sailing skills are as outstanding as our product!” says Shinjini Kumar, co-founder, Salt.