Companies in the country as well as those around the world have had to innovate to stay in business when the virus struck hard. Most of them allowed their staff to work from home. Thanks to available technology it was possible to work from home. Companies in Mumbai and Delhi and other cities decided that their personnel could work from home. It also became a trend for employees from other states to move to Goa and work for their companies. However, for Goan companies, the ground realities may have been a little difficult. The availability of a good quality internet connection was a bit of a problem in the state. And then there was also the question of how Goan clients would react to all this.
Blaise Costabir Managing Director of GMI Zarhak Moulders Pvt Ltd an SME said it was just not possible to work from home. He said “Out of a staff of a hundred perhaps one or two can work from home. 99 per cent of the staff will have to come to work because they were working on the floor. SME sector cannot work like other sectors. Perhaps the service sector can work according to that module.”
Another industry in Goa that requires staff in large numbers is the realty business. Desh Prabhudesai has a realty business based out of Margao and said his architectural wing was working out of home. He said “In Goa, medium and small construction companies cannot operate like big companies. The staff cannot work from home. The sales team perhaps on some occasions can work out of home but then visits have to be made to the site. Clients also visit the office; these meetings cannot be conducted online. Perhaps down the line, once the staff is trained, and then maybe we could think of working from home. All this depends on what happens with the virus.”
Hari Kaul, GM at CMM Arena Retails Pvt. Ltd a retail major in the state, said employees in the accounts, marketing department were working from home. He said the others were working from the office because of the nature of the business. He said “We are not a call centre; we don’t have high-end technology to handle. Those working from home operate on their mobile, laptop or desktop computer.
Dealing with frontline customers requires face to face communication. Now the government has eased up and some more people will start functioning from the office. But, ERP/Data centres and other such platforms can be managed from home. They can operate from home”.
A multinational company operating in the state has allowed its staff to work from home on alternate weeks. An employee who was not authorised to speak to the media said the option was presented to the staff and this was also offered to those operating on the shop floor.
However, companies operating in the software space or service industry operated under different circumstances. Zafar Rais, CEO of MindShift Interactive in a statement said “Given certain challenges of internet and electricity, all employees have been offered an upgrade to their internet and systems while they work from home. Each team member also has a backup colleague for any unforeseen issues. These integrations are crucial towards ensuring a seamless, creative and comfortable environment for employees and clients. To continue building a culture of togetherness and growth, we have introduced weekly engagement and learning opportunities for all employees, as well as invested in software that enable an accountable method of working together”.
Ricky Noronha Director of Online Productivity Solutions Pvt. Ltd a software company said their office was operational five days a week. Since this was a sunshine industry, the work culture was relaxed. He said “We are open 9-9 and our staff has to work 42 hours in a week. They can manage it the way they want to. If someone is short they can work on a Saturday and sort it out. Internet access in the villages is decent so it is not a problem. Our clients don’t know the difference; they want their work to be done as per the standard promised”
Magirish Salkekar CEO Umang said due to the problems with last-mile internet connectivity, it was a problem working from home. He said “People worked from home last year too during the first lockdown and now from April they started working from home. If anyone wants to go to the office and work, we would like them to be vaccinated. Personally, I would like to see the staff working from the office. Interacting with each other and creating the buzz”.
Speaking of the clients, he said they were comfortable with the situation given that they operated in the healthcare and other domains. Speaking of security of the work they were involved in, he said they were working with the UN on certain projects. They had to sign the NDA when they were operating from home. Whilst at work, he said all the security software was in place which did the job. Now the slight easing up, they had a skeleton staff to handle new recruitments and their induction process. Somethings he said had to be done face to face.
It is obvious it depended on the industry for the company to take the relevant step.
