India Inc offsites are back as pandemic concerns ease

As Covid restrictions ease off in most parts of the country and the number of cases continues to fall, employees are dusting the cobwebs off their suitcases as they head out on company-organised offsites.

Companies across sectors that ET spoke with, including Urban Company, NoBroker, UpGrad, Razorpay, Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals, MG Motor India, ITC Infotech, Ekostay and Meesho, said these offsites were being organised at domestic destinations, keeping in mind travel cost as well as travel time. While brainstorming on strategy is on the agenda, most leaders say the more important objective is to reconnect in person, after nearly two years of not having done so.

"We've had hundreds of people join us during the pandemic whom we hadn't met in person. Our recent offsite at Goa was a chance to change that - we set aside all work and 200 of us had fun for a couple of days, attended yoga sessions, and got to know each other," Amit Agarwal, cofounder of Bengaluru-based NoBroker, told ET.


The company, which entered the unicorn club last year with its valuation topping $1 billion, has already had an offsite for its tech team in Dehradun, and is organising another one for the marketing team in Coorg.

After emerging from the crest of wave 3 of the pandemic, teams are eager to make the most of this time and connect, said Chitbhanu, senior VP of people operations, Razorpay. Teams in the fintech firm have visited surrounding areas in Bengaluru, and Coorg and Goa have become favoured destinations, he said.

Meesho, which recently adopted a boundaryless workplace model, is rolling out annual 'workations' in places such as Goa, Shimla and Manali to foster team bonding and familiarity. At edtech major UpGrad, the marketing, finance, and administrative teams have been taken to various destinations in Maharashtra. Engagement was driven through outdoor group activities like trekking, rappelling, planned group games, strategy sessions, team building exercises and more, cofounder and managing director Mayank Kumar said.

Homestay venture Ekostay is planning its next offsite in Igatpuri in the Western Ghats, where employees will get to play billiards and poker in a villa. ITC Infotech is organising an offsite for its senior leadership team this month - a first of a series of employee engagement initiatives running through the year.

Experts say the last two years had been extremely stressful for everyone and the hybrid working model affected the mental health of a majority of employees. Offsites can be the perfect way to get back to socialising, communicating better, driving company culture and making work easier.

Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals is organising offsites to Lonavala, Alibag and Goa, and has more lined up in coming months.

"We will be having our HR team's offsite where we will bring in a consultant to talk about the theme of process improvements, managing workloads and simplifying processes," said Satyajit Mohanty, vice-president of HR.

Urban Company has had a few offsites in Bengaluru and Ranthambore, focused on team bonding as well as figuring out business imperatives for the next quarter. The marketing, business, data and tech teams, as well as the senior leadership, have been on offsites recently, said Sana Nayyar, vice-president of people success.

Of course, health and safety continue to be of paramount importance for companies.

For instance, MG Motor made double vaccination and rapid testing mandatory at its offsites. The company has also been preferring destinations that can be reached by road in order to limit exposure on flights, said Gaurav Gupta, its chief commercial officer.