Terming the coronavirus pandemic as a "crisis of a magnitude that we have never faced before" Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra on Thursday asked employees of the conglomerate to use the lockdown period to relook at personal and professional way of life to prepare for the future and to serve the "post corona world".
In a letter to over two lakh employees of the group, Mahindra reiterated what he had suggested during the last global recession on how to use the "down time to Reboot, Reinvent and Reignite" through introspection of the way things are currently done and then doing them better.
He asked them to use the time available to come up with new ideas and innovations; and taking advantage of the crisis "to dream bigger dreams about the future and raising ambitions once the crisis has passed".
Stating that these are not normal times on the work front, he said, "we are facing a crisis of a magnitude that we have never faced before. We are all worried, about our families, about our business, about our economy and about our country. Despite that, we are all doing whatever we can to carry on and are learning to live with uncertainty without letting it weigh us down."
Stating that the same goes for reinvention and innovation, he said, "I think we are already reinventing the way we socially interact. Italians are singing to each other from their homes. Delhi residents are playing housie from their balconies. These seem to be trivial examples, but they all demonstrate how we human beings work around seemingly impossible barriers to reinvent how we connect with each other."
He further asked the employees, "can we reinvent our business processes so that we halve the time we normally took to reach a decision, build a product or deliver a service? Can we dramatically lower the cost of products and services by doing radical re-designs?"
Reiterating that the group is setting up a fund for voluntarily donations to support such people, he said,"But over and above that, each of us has an individual responsibility to mitigate the misery of those around us. We can continue paying wages to domestic helpers who are unable to turn up for work. We can supply food, soap, sanitisers to BOP families. We can share some of our good fortune with those who have none."
Thanking the employees on how they have responded during the outbreak, he said, "I am proud of the way our organisation, in the true Mahindra spirit, has risen to the challenge and moved seamlessly into new ways of working. Work from home is going to be the new normal for some time to come, and you are all doing your bit. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart."