Dosti Realty MD shares back-to-office experience, says pandemic didn’t deter the spirit of employees

Deepak Goradia, MD, Dosti Realty has the head office in Fort, Mumbai and project sites across the city in Parel, Wadala, Thane (W), Shil Thane etc. In the initial stages of the pandemic, the sudden lockdown did affect operations at the site but they used this time productively and have been able to adapt and streamline processes further during the past few months.
"For a few of us, there wasn't really a first day back to the office. As even during the lockdown we needed to visit our sites. In the initial stages of the lockdown, we were visiting to ensure the wel-being of our labourers. We provided food to more than 1500 labourers across our construction sites and regular thermal scans were also done. Once pre-monsoon activity was allowed, pre-monsoon work on sites began. Within a month or so, slowly things started opening up again. There was never a non-work day as such, but yes, things had slowed down considerably. When our head office and sales offices started opening up though, it was good to see our staff limited as they may have been healthy and safe. It was also good to see customers come in and enquire about buying a home. It gave a strong sense of hope that things will eventually pick up once again," Goradia told ET Panache.

Measures taken
Across their head office and sites there is sanitisation done every few hours, employees and visitors are thermal scanned at the entrance, sanitiser is also kept there, social distancing is practiced and wearing a mask is compulsory for employees and visitors. Besides this, there are other protocols in place for employees with respect to meetings, lunch breaks, etc.

"We are also following a strict seven day quarantine protocol for all the labourers returning to the job site. Only after they pass an antigen test, then they are inducted and allowed to carry out work at the projects. All employees in the office are supporting each other in whatever way they can and we are sure that we can get through this together as a team," he said.

Normal notes
The biggest challenge in any office including theirs is adjusting to this new normal. "But we have been able to adapt quite well largely because we have used this time to streamline our processes and embrace the digital medium wholeheartedly. Now even bookings can be done online for all our projects, though we have noticed that with real estate especially, people would still like to visit the site at least once before doing the complete booking formalities," Goradia said.

The number of staff across their offices and sites are as per the prescribed norms.

"It is very important to ensure the health and safety of your employees because at the end of the day, they are the ones that drive the organisation. These times are challenging for everyone so it is important for one to be kind and considerate while jointly working together to get through this as a team," he said.

Back again
'Encouraging' is the word Goradia would use to describe being back in office as the day their head office and sales offices resumed operations, it was good to see that this pandemic did not deter employees.

"Those that came to office worked diligently as always and adapted quickly to the new way of doing things. From a customer point of view as well, there were serious homebuyers visiting the site which was a positive sign as well," he ended.