With flexibility and agility at its core, Whirlpool of India Ltd has handheld its employees through multiple pandemic waves
Rachna Kumar, VP, human resources , Whirlpool Asia, and Vishal Bhola, MD, Whirlpool of India Ltd
Image: Amit Verma
In 2020, as the world was blindsided by a little-known virus, most corporates scurried to firefight on the go. There were no guidelines, and even less knowledge of how long a shutdown Covid-19 would enforce.
At Whirlpool of India Ltd, too, 2020 was all about getting employees comfortably settled at remote workstations and rolling out the still-nebulous work-from-home (WFH) framework. A year later, the company has emerged wiser, learning to live seamlessly with the troughs and peaks of Covid’s multiple waves.
“What happened in the last 18 months has given us a solid playbook. We saw the results when we returned to office in the first week of January this year, and realised cases have begun to rise [due to the onset of the Omicron wave],” says Vishal Bhola, MD, Whirlpool of India Ltd. “We immediately put this playbook into action and within a few days went back to working virtually, with barely 5 percent of the staff with critical roles needing to come to office.”
The best part though, Bhola adds, was not going virtual effortlessly, but the quick and efficient return to office once cases waned. “Within two days, we got back attendance levels that we desired without having to insist or cajole staff. This is despite the inertia that is expected to set in,” says Bhola. “It shows how we’ve perfected the Covid playbook.”
At the core of this lie empathy and agility. Many of the measures that emanated from these values weren’t formalised through written guidelines, but implemented informally through mutual understanding. “We were completely relaxed on our leave rules, which were allowed no-questions-asked; meetings were limited, and staff were encouraged not to convene meetings beyond 6-6.30 pm to enable work-life balance,” says Rachna Kumar, VP, human resources, Whirpool Asia.
(This story appears in the 11 March, 2022 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)