Phil Wainewright writes at Diginomica
"In February, Zoho opened a farm on its 360-acre headquarters campus in Austin, Texas. Employees started helping to grow crops, often bringing their families so their children could learn how to farm and grow food. Although the initiative started before COVID-19 took hold, the farm became an outdoor place to catch up with colleagues after remote working was introduced, says Chief Evangelist Raju Vegesna.
Now the company has started rolling out the model on other sites. In the last three months, it has opened six new farm offices in India, each based in a village and with capacity for 10-20 employees. In Texas, it is currently looking to open new offices in four small towns — average population about 10,000 — each about an hour's drive away from Austin."
This did not happen overnight. Every conversation with CEO Sridhar Vembu is cerebral and spiritual - quotes like "pain is everywhere, suffering is optional" are mixed in with talk of chip fabrication measured in nanometers, as you can read my interview with him in Austin in February and when he did his version of "acrobatics during the crisis" video interview on a 4G mobile line from a remote village in India.
Comments