Let’s Talk Work: The Future of the Workplace – K. Ganesh, Serial Entrepreneur and Partner, Growthstory, Hemant Malik, Wholetime Director, Divisional Chief Executive – Foods, ITC, Dr. Shravan Subramanyam, MD and Group CEO of BPL Medical Technologies, Suparna Mitra, Chief Executive Officer, Watches and Wearables Division, Titan, moderated by L.V. Navaneeth, CEO, The Hindu Group, on the second day of The Hindu Huddle 2025, in Bengaluru on May 10, 2025.
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MURALI KUMAR K
The evolution of work in a fast changing globe was discussed at length during a lively session at The Hindu Huddle on Saturday. Aptly titled ‘Let’s Talk Work’ and moderated by L V Navaneeth, CEO, The Hindu Group, the freewheeling chat dealt with the multifacted challenges that modern offices and employees face.
First up, the elephant in the room, the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), was discussed, and K Ganesh, serial entrepreneur and partner, GrowthStory, said: “AI was transformative as creation became possible. Then you had autonomous agents in AI doing work without human prompting.”
Adding heft to the conversation, Suparna Mitra, CEO of the Watches and Wearables Division of Titan Company Ltd , said: “We are all on the cusp of a very big change. People joining in their early twenties are not looking at staying long in a company. And then you have machines doing work but it needs human intervention. For a lot of people, AI may be ChatGPT but surely it can play a bigger role in manufacturing.”
Blow for gender equity
Striking a blow for gender equity, she added: “Women have a lot of other things going on in their life, which is not accounted for in workplace design. And at home care-work is not paid, house-work is not paid. Women do dual roles of being at the workplace and also working at home.”
The concept of customer delight was analysed too when Hemant Malik, Wholetime Director, Divisional Chief Executive – Foods, ITC, said: “All of us do work from the customer perspective; can you make it cheaper and faster? There is also the personalisation aspect. Are you being transparent, are you giving the customer new experiences” Who thought 10-minute delivery was so important till it started?”
The transparency angle was also reiterated by Dr. Shravan Subramanyam, CEO, BPL Medical Technologies. “How we sell matters as much as how much we sell. To me transparency is our best tool and if breeds accountability. Employee requirements are changing, let’s just listen and learn. As for AI, it is used in radiology, surgeries and many facets of medical care,” he said.
The tussle between traditional businesses and modern offshoots, climate change and the way it impacts production, storage and employee productivity, were all looked into at a granular level. The gig economy driven by food and grocery delivery firms and the way they have changed, was also spoken about. And as the session drew to a close, the final summary was that change will be a constant at work and both employers and employees have to learn constantly while also harnessing technology.
Published on May 10, 2025
