In an interaction with BW people; Deepa Narayan, Senior Director, Employee Success, Salesforce India talked about ensuring wellbeing for their employees and as the people leader, she discussed around what areas would need much attention New Future.

How efficiently are you helping and caring for your employees?

At Salesforce, we are constantly working towards ensuring the mental and physical wellbeing of our employees. Currently, nearly all of our global office employee population is under a “strongly encouraged to WFH” recommendation. An allowance benefit of $250 dollars is also provided to every employee to help set up their home offices.

Mental wellbeing is very important for Salesforce. Our employees now have access to Thriving Mind , which is aimed at helping employees and their families strengthen their psychological and emotional health. The resources are made available to employees and their immediate families free of cost.

Share an anecdote of positivity during this remote working period.

In these tough times, the opportunities for bringing wellbeing or imbibing positivity to your team are limitless. Another example of this would be the launch of B-Well Together! A daily, 30-minute call featuring various industry luminaries to help individuals focus on our own wellbeing. We've been fortunate to have Arianna Huffington, David Agus, Larry Brilliant, Deepak Chopra, Jack Kornfield, Plum Village Monastics and more share their tips and wisdom on supporting individuals and their families through these trying times.

What initiative have you taken as your social responsibility for social welfare?

Giving back to the communities and volunteering our time to benefit those in need is one of the strongest pillars of the culture at Salesforce. Our 1-1-1 business and philanthropic model pledges 1 percent of our product, employees time, and equity to the communities we live and work in - Employees are given 7 days a year (56 hours) to volunteer with causes they are passionate about. Salesforce is also giving back to the community by providing free access to our technology for small businesses and healthcare professionals.

Employees at Salesforce have also found their unique ways of giving back to their communities. From creating digital catalogs for blue pottery workers in Rajasthan to providing support, conducting an online Mentorship Program for students missing out on school, and to providing 500 + at-risk families the food, medicines, and other critical needs for survival. Salesforce has also donated over 8000 masks for frontline healthcare workers in partnership with the Govt of Telangana.

Till date, we’ve given away more than $310M+ in grants, 5M+ hours of Salesforce employee volunteer time impacting over 45K+ non-profits and educational institution using Salesforce for free or at a discount

Do you think that “not getting back to the office” is the new normal?

Remote working has certainly been put to the test in the current scenario. At Salesforce, our teams were able to seamlessly transition to working from home in five days without affecting their productivity. However, it is difficult to predict long term decisions during these unprecedented times

As a People leader, what is your biggest worry now?

As an HR leader, supporting our workforce and helping them find a path forward in the current scenario is of foremost priority. At Salesforce our business leaders are constantly reimagining how to keep their teams motivated, achieve a positive work-life balance, and stay healthy while adapting to the new normal.