How Remote Working Changed Work: Panel Discussion

A few months into a setup where remote working has settled in, we take stock of how a taste of Work From Home has changed working as a whole. 

In Part 2 of our conversation with the heads of three prominent tech companies in India - Monish Darda, co-founder of Icertis, KS Prashant, MD of IDeaS and Nitin Deshpande, President of Evolent Health, - we hear their experiences of having seen remote working from close quarters. 

Like flipped classrooms in schools - is it time for flipped workplaces - where serious work happens at home, and then you come into office once in a few weeks to network, catch up and have some fun? Is the hybrid model of a office-home split the way ahead? What are the things they feel are going to last for long, what part of work has changed forever and what are some of the things that look like they will never change - we explore all this and more.

(In Part 1 of this conversation, we had spoken about drawing parallels from the other worlds when it comes to remote work.)

SOME OF THE THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT -

• Roles which have gone a fundamental change
• Did remote working bring an open-source culture to companies
• How physical offices spaces will change for good
• The need to come up with new reasonable metrics to track work.
• How it is the challenge and quality of work that will drive employee satisfaction
• How managers or designated committees can help tide through remote working transitions
• How remote working brings meritocracy to the fore
• Did remote work improve work-life balance

TIMESTAMP

02:00 Do organisations need a ‘Director of Remote Work’. 

05:23 Nitin’s ‘Permanent Hybrid Model’

08:55 Equipping managers to handle remote requirements 

10:32 Prashant on how workplace provides the context

12:00 Prashant’s focus for the end, irrespective of means, for the Indian ecosystem of work

14:45 Monish on how Icertis handled remote work

16:17 Scaling up while remote working

19:31 Prashant on new roles, new challenges

22:00 Monish on how people carved out solutions across the organisation

24:50 Nitin on how core work has gone up significantly

26:00 Monish on finding value in not always being efficient 

27:00 Role of physical space - does it change

28:09 Icertis’ workplace evolution

31:21 Nitin on how remote work solved real estate problems

33:44 Prashant on how challenging work and not frills get the best talent.

36:30 Changes in nature of work, output and appraisal metrics

45:26 Lessons on work, management and leadership learnt

53:50 Hot takes on key questions