Take a peek at how the managing director of a global firm works from both office and home

When Covid-19 became a global pandemic, it prompted the start of the world’s largest work-from-home experiment. But cracks are beginning to show as employees struggle with the remote work setup.

As social distancing restrictions begin to ease in many cities, the future of work may very well become a hybrid. This means workplaces could allow staff to come into the office when necessary – for important meetings or to connect with their team – but also offer them the flexibility of working from home.

“[Workers] want to go back to the office. Not five days a week, but they want to go back,” says Hariharan S., managing director of collaboration for Asia Pacific, Japan, and China for multinational technology conglomerate Cisco. “The office will not be a place where you go to work – it’ll be a place where you go for that social belonging, a sense of being on the team.”

Hariharan oversees Cisco’s business collaboration solutions arm in the region. As part of a global team that operates across different time zones, the hybrid workplace model, which Cisco has adopted, offers him greater flexibility with work and personal life.

Here’s a peek into Hariharan’s life as a hybrid worker.

A day in the life

7:00 am

“I’m not a morning person, so my typical wake up alarm is 7:00 am to 7:30 am,” says Hariharan. The first thing he does is check if there were messages that came in overnight from his colleagues elsewhere in the world.

“You’ll have some late-night messages from the US, and Australia wakes up earlier than us so there’ll be messages from there,” he explains. Once that’s done, he has breakfast and gets ready to start his day.

8:30 am

Hariharan is usually at his desk by 8:30 am, whether in his study at home or in the office. After the Singapore government recently relaxed safe-distancing restrictions, he’s been going back to the office on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Hariharan S., managing director of collaboration for Asia Pacific, Japan, and China for Cisco / Photo credit: Cisco

“It’s just back-to-back calls and video meetings,” he says of the activities he does in a day. Prior to Covid-19, Hariharan frequently took trips for business, but travel restrictions have meant that almost all of his work is now done via calls.

In his role as managing director, Hariharan spends his time in discussions with his team about pipeline generation, marketing launches, product enhancements, and all the other aspects of managing a regional operation. He also frequently speaks with customers about how Cisco’s collaboration tools can make a difference for them.

He spends eight to 10 hours a day on calls, which is why he believes that having the right set-up at your desk makes a huge difference.

For example, he uses Cisco’s Webex Desk Pro, a dedicated video and collaboration device, for his calls, which helps ease the fatigue that comes with lengthy video meetings.

12:30 pm

The executive tries to set aside time for lunch between 12:30 pm and 1:00 pm. However, because his schedule is packed with calls, this sometimes ends up being a working lunch, where he eats while in a meeting with his team.

“My wife usually prepares lunch,” says Hariharan. “One of the perks of working from home is [that] you eat healthy and fresh home-cooked food.”

1:30 pm

The rest of Hariharan’s afternoon is similar to that of his morning – on calls and in meetings.

If he’s at the office that day, he usually heads home once important meetings are done. In his view, technology has made shifting between work and home incredibly easy and seamless.

Hariharan spends most of his day in meetings with his team and customers / Photo credit: Cisco

Using Cisco’s Webex application, for example, enables Hariharan to take calls, respond to messages, and work on ongoing projects no matter where he is and across different devices. Each group chat acts as a “single pane of glass,” where he can access everything about a particular project easily, he shares.

“What I can do on my laptop can be done on my mobile,” he says. “If I’m on a 30-minute taxi ride, I’m on calls, I can work – it’s just at the tip of my fingers.”

5:00 pm

By this time, Hariharan logs out of work for a few hours – usually from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

“That’s the time my daughter comes back from school, so I get to spend a little time with her,” he shares.

Hariharan also heads out for a run, if possible. “I go get some sun, get some fresh air after being stuck in an air-conditioned room for eight to 10 hours, staring at the screen,” he says.

By 7:30 pm, he’s usually back at the house and has dinner with his wife and daughter.

9:00 pm

After dinner and some family time, Hariharan heads back to his desk for a few more hours. As Cisco is headquartered in the US, he occasionally has meetings with colleagues from the other side of the world.

This is also the time when he clears his emails and messages and focuses on his own tasks.

“It comes naturally for me to work till 12:30 am or 1:00 am [before going to bed],” Hariharan explains. “This is quiet time for me – there’s no noise, there’s no distraction.”

The future is hybrid

One concern that has arisen around remote work – and around hybrid work – is the question of accountability. But what matters is that employees are getting things done, says Hariharan.

“Cisco’s always had this culture of getting employees to work from wherever you are,” he explains. “That has been one of our core tenets: We measure productivity, we don’t measure the number of hours an employee puts in.”

For the executive, the hybrid workplace is the workplace of the future.

“Even when things get back to normal, [employees] will not go back to the office on the same day, so you will need flexibility,” he says.

Companies therefore need to begin preparing to transition into the hybrid model. While having the right tools and technology in place to support this flexibility is important, what’s equally vital is reframing HR policies for this new normal.

“It is about your values – to trust your employees that they will do the right thing when they’re working from home and that employees will act in a mature way,” Hariharan says.

Cisco’s Webex Meetings platform is a leader in conferencing and collaboration solutions. Webex solutions include both software apps and hardware devices which are designed to work seamlessly together, allowing people to work anywhere they want.

Try Webex Meetings for free by visiting Cisco’s website, and check out the bundle offers available on its Webex devices.

This content was produced by Tech in Asia Studios, which connects brands with Asia’s tech community. Learn more about partnering with Tech in Asia Studios.