Snapdeal has a brand new workplace in Gurgaon. What really stands out in this swanky, chic and open office is its youthful energy. Apparently, startups are breaking the norm to redefine workplace design, and Snapdeal’s new office is symbolic of the same movement.
What is the advantage of having an open office? The answer is, transparency! It has become the new mantra for business organisations and has its roots in the fact that organisation structures are flattening. Additionally, changes are taking place in every aspect of business and the office space has come to be an extension of that phenomenon.
The credit for this transformation goes to companies in the startup space. With more such ventures mushrooming and bigger companies becoming aware of the advantages of such setups, they have managed to establish a trend for others to follow.
Coming back to Snapdeal, the new workplace is located in a sprawling 450,000 sq. ft campus in Gurgaon, and is capable of accommodating up to 5000 employees. The red and white logo has been generously used on the outside as well as inside to create a robust brand image. The interiors have been aesthetically designed to accommodate worktables, gymnasium, cafeterias, meeting rooms, toddler play areas and more.
There are arty installations, vibrant wall papers, modern and comfortable furniture, in short, the interiors are just perfect and can be leveraged to improve productivity.
However, the question that comes to mind is whether redesigning the workplace will inject the much-needed energy to turn around things for Snapdeal, which has been facing problems of late.
The founders, Kunal Bhal and Rohit Bansal, are hopeful that they will be able to turnaround the fortune of the e-commerce company with their new plans.
Snapdeal, one of the early players in the e-commerce domain, had taken a beating in terms of market share due to stiff competition from Amazon and Flipkart. The Company incurred losses to the tune of Rs. 46.47 billion in 2017.
During the same time, it was trying to merge with Flipkart, but found it extremely difficult to keep the business running due to a cash crunch. Moreover, some of the senior leaders, such as Saurabh Nigam, head-human capital resigned from the Company. Therefore, it was natural for both the promoters and the employees of the company to have hit rock bottom in terms of morale and energy.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going! Snapdeal displayed the same spirit and bounced back again on its own. In spite of the investor’s push (Soft Bank), it refused to join hands with Flipkart.
With this new workplace, Snapdeal plans to hire young talent and take this e-commerce marketplace to the next level of development.