HungerBox CEO likes to catch up with team often to keep them motivated

Sandipan Mitra, Co-founder and CEO, HungerBox is finding managing 100 per cent of the company employees working from home is a lot more difficult than what he expected.

He told ET Panache, "With the help of my excellent team, we have identified processes that have eased the journey. As far as apps go, we depend quite a bit on Google hangouts. Apart from that, the only other app that I actively use is the Aaraogya Setu app which provides real-time tracking of how the situation is evolving around the pandemic. Trust me, we are all looking forward to coming back to work."

The food and beverage B2B tech company's major focus was on tackling communication gaps and keeping the team motivated due to the remote working model.


"Being physically present as a team has its own advantages where you are able to interact easily and motivate everyone. While working remotely, people who are not used to this (remote) mode, can easily lose direction and motivation. Therefore, we have increased the frequency of conversations we have with team members. Instead of catch ups with departments once a month, we have increased the frequency and do it once every few days. The other area which has proven to be a challenge was induction and training of staff where monitoring progress becomes difficult," Mitra shared.

The company has used a few creative ways to engage with their teams. The CEO shared, "We launched fun activities such as 'best WFH pic contest' where employees send in pictures and rate the best pictures, recipes, exercise and dance moves at home."


They are also undertaking training programmes where experts from within the organisation take in-depth sessions.

Mitra's workday starts with a daily 15-minute stand-up team call where as a team, they decide the focus areas and plan the day ahead. "Maintaining productivity is a definite challenge when everyone is working remotely from home as there are certain chores that you need to take on at home in the current situation, whereas in office you can single-mindedly focus on work," he shared.

The food tech boss values his yoga sessions which make him feel energised. "Striking a balance is a challenge but sometimes you learn from the most unexpected person. For me, it is my daughter. When I teach her to be disciplined, she reminds me about it too when I miss it. Unlike in the office, I have got a person watching over me but I am enjoying the experience," he shared.

Mitra has started 15-minute yoga sessions and stretches. "I believe in starting small and pulling through every single day. Having my family around me is also refreshing. I am binge-watching missed series’ on all streaming platforms. Spending more time with family is the cherry on top," he ended.