Top 5 Coolest Workplaces in India

Monday blues are always at it’s peak especially when you are a working person. For proper functioning in your workplace a perfect and amiable setup or vibe is a must, so here is a detailed list of some of the coolest and most amazing workplaces in India that you can definitely opt for when you step into work.

1. Google

Starting from a relaxed leave allowance policy to numerous perks for working from home and a peer-to-peer mental health community, Google surely knows how to pamper Googlers. From numerous break-out zones with provision for indoor sports like table tennis to chess, carrom and card games to the popular foosball where employees can unwind, to a delectable spread of food items of different cuisines to cater to hunger pangs available for free, Monday morning blues is an alien concept for Googlers. There are choices when one decides to settle down for the day’s work as well, from the bright-colored bean bags to swing chairs or even the old-fashioned diwan- anything and everything available to set your work mood just right, at your door step. For times like now, in the current pandemic situation Google has extended it’s support to it’s employees in every possible way, some of them being work-from-home allowance – a sizeable $1,000 – to enable Googlers to procure equipment like office furniture or online fitness classes and virtual off sites are par for the course. There are others that stand out such as recognizing early that in a forced WFH regime employees maybe more stressed than usual due to the added burden of household chores, the company relaxed its policy for leave allowance. It introduced the concept of ‘career’s leave’ so that Googlers have the flexibility to look after their kids while schools were shut longer than usual. Initially introduced for a period of six weeks of paid leave, it was later extended to a total of 14 weeks.
In addition, to avoid burnout, it also gave two official day offs to each employee to log off, unwind and recharge their batteries. Another challenge companies faced during the pandemic was ensuring the mental wellbeing of their workforce. To that end, Google introduced the Blue Dot Programme – a peer-to-peer mental health community.

2. TCS

Second on the list is Indian multinational information technology services and consulting company, TCS that took severe steps to ensure proper and smooth functioning of the company along with providing adequate resources to it’s employees. Covid-19 was more than a danger for Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Its resources, assets and business and 4.5-lakh workforce, were spread across 46 countries. The IT services giant moved quickly to bring the functioning back on track. The company first framed the Secure Borderless Work Space (SBWS) infrastructure to facilitate remote working, where all employees migrated to the digital work structure. Secondly, it announced it would not lay off employees and honor all job offers, including the 40,000 given to new graduates. At present, TCS has enabled remote working for 95 per cent of its employees and established Cloud-based governance of over 23,000 projects, enabling high volume of digital collaboration – 35,000 online meetings, 406,000 calls and over 3-million messages.
Meanwhile, the HR team has reimagined associate engagement with ‘purpose orientation’. ‘Engagement with Purpose’ is a 360-degree programme across different areas- health and wellbeing, lifelong learning, career building, serving communities and social collaboration. Through this programme, the HR engaged with over 4-lakh associates during the last one year by focusing on physical fitness and emotional wellbeing through yoga, nutrition and home safety have been key drivers to ensure associate wellbeing globally.
For dealing with the pandemic, TCS has established a 24×7 dedicated medical helpline for employees. Besides, it had set up 11 first-line isolation centres for employees and their families within office premises in Chennai, Kochi, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi, Bhubaneswar, Indore and Nagpur. It also provided home healthcare benefits, besides arranging self-quarantine in partnership with hotel chains and hospitals. Considering that 80 per cent of TCS workforce is Gen Y, it launched OneTCS Channel for virtual townhalls with the CEO and senior leaders. It also hosted chess grandmaster Viswanathan Anand and astronaut Ron Garan, among others.

3. Amazon

The current Covid-19 situation has given a real tough time to the employees in terms of massive job losses in companies. Whereas on the contrary, Amazon India, went all out on a hiring spree. Not only did it honor all hiring commitments made the previous year, it also created over 70,000 seasonal positions across operations network and customer service. In September last year, it announced 1,00,000 seasonal positions ahead of the festive season. While the company already has two silent (manned by hearing and speech impaired employees) delivery stations in Mumbai, it is now looking at hiring people with different intellectual abilities.
In the last one year, the company has also hired a lot of transgenders in fulfilment and operational roles. The male-dominated Amazon fulfilment centres now have over 6,000 women employees as opposed to just 60-odd four years ago. The company has, in the past few years, been persistently trying to make its blue collared workforce diverse too.

4. ICICI Bank

One of the top and most successful companies in India, ICICI Bank was facing headwinds due to the vacuum created by the exit of Chanda Kochhar, forcing it to rejig its overall business strategy to focus on operating profits, risk management and strengthening the balance sheet. As a first step to align HR policies to a common goal, the bank decided to move from grade-based organisation structure to role-based (head of asset, liabilities, etc.) designations and empowered teams at the zonal and branch level. This immediately crashed the hierarchy or department structure and helped in faster response time. The results are reflected in India’s Coolest Workplaces study where the bank has made it to the Top 5 in the list. As part of the transformation, there is now a common goal sheet for the top leadership team.
The bank has been focusing on bolstering its work culture. The old workspace system has been replaced by open offices. This goes well with the young workforce. The average age of employees is 30 years.

5. Microsoft

Lat but not the least is, Microsoft on the list. Microsoft’s efforts were primarily centered on two things – frequent communication and wellbeing. Communication was essential because there’s a dynamic shift in the way employees are working today. Wellbeing, both physical and mental, is another area where special emphasis has been given.
Whether it is about introducing a dedicated 24×7 Covid-19 medical advisory helpline to support employees or adding new leave options – PSCCL (Paid Pandemic School and Childcare Closure Leave) which provides employees up to 12 weeks of paid leave for childcare, supervision, and education duties of children – Microsoft has expanded its horizon to handle the emotional and physical wellbeing of its employees. The company also added mental health to its sick leave policy and renamed it Sick & Mental Health Leave. The policy allows employees to take time off for themselves or for a family member for mental wellness.

So here was a list of some of the coolest as well as amazing places to work in India, that has proven to be massively effective especially during a tough time that we are currently going through (Covid-19 pandemic).