Future workplaces will become smarter, more digital: Sandeep Aurora, IESA

India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA) is the premier industry body committed to the development of a vibrant Indian electronic and semiconductor ecosystem and evangelizing the dream of establishing “Brand India” that is recognized worldwide as a go-to destination for electronic products.

Here, Sandeep Aurora, VP, Business Development & Government Affairs, IESA, tells us about the future of work. Excerpts from an interview:

DQ: How are you dealing with the Covid-19 situation? What plans have you put in place?

Sandeep Aurora: The industry is dealing with the situation, keeping employee & customer safety as the first priority. Almost all cos have worked on plans to institute work from home for most of their employees and are able to keep the biz running with very important staff in the campuses / offices.

Secondly, the industry is working aggressively to help fight the pandemic with design and manufacturing of critical medical equipment like ventilators. The industry is also helping startups build innovative solutions for the post Covid era.

DQ: Are you giving employees more control over their schedules?

Sandeep Aurora: Most organisations are working with their employees to ease the work from home scenario and give them freedom to choose / schedule keeping the productivity in mind.

DQ: How are you assessing on learnings from enforced experiments around WFH?

Sandeep Aurora: Many learnings are forthcoming from this experiment and will lead to fundamental changes in the way we operate. Work from home done right, will lead to less congestion in work places; the ability of people to work, without necessarily moving to big cities; more women being able to work, etc. It's an evolving experiment with potentially great outcomes for the workplace and the teams of the future.

DQ: This is a challenging time for managers. What advice would you give them?

Sandeep Aurora: Managers need to evolve and be able to provide guidance to their teams remotely, their ability to manage multicultural teams will be tested & managers will learn that positive influence does not need physical proximity necessarily.

DQ: How does work/life balance work in a crisis like this?

Sandeep Aurora: The lines get blurred further and it's important for employees to set rules within home while working from home so that they don't lose productivity. They also need to be aware of the needs of the family so it's a fine balance that needs to be maintained. With time, most employees will get a hang of it.

DQ: What are the policy responses you would give to the MSMEs and SMEs?

Sandeep Aurora: We want them to provide Incentives / infra to enable work from home, and training infra to train the future employees.

DQ: How are you now facilitating digital work?

Sandeep Aurora: Digital workplace will mean digital solutions / more collaboration / interactive interfaces / remote team work . All companies are training their employees towards this new normal.

DQ: How are the latest technologies going to redefine workplace?

Sandeep Aurora: The future workplaces will become smarter / more digital / less crowded / team collaboration inductive / more intuitive. Any technology enabling any/all of these will win.

DQ: How do you plan for a future of ‘decent digiwork’?

Sandeep Aurora: Decent digiwork will mean seamless integration of human interface and digital tools with User Interface (UI). New tools have to span all activists of work like design and automation of production to tracking the progress of projects.

We have to get used to the digital work formats and the digital formats and tools have to understand human behaviour much better. As it comes together, it would be the ideal digiwork.