How COVID-19 Launched a Constantly Changing Future of Work with Sudhir Saseedharan, Tetra Pak

Summary
Workplace experience expert Sudhir Saseedharan joins Kursty to discuss the opportunities the pandemic has presented in terms of reshaping work and the workplace. They talk about the four main pillars of the Tetra Pak workplace experience framework, why policies and frameworks should never be set in stone, and the realities of rolling out a framework globally. 

While you might not have heard of Tetra Pak, you might have used it. Tetra Pak is a packaging company servicing 170 countries. It employs over 25,000 people. 

Sudhir Saseedharan is the Director of Workplace Experience and Future Working at Tetra Pak. He has an impressive educational background that encompasses design, engineering, and social science.

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Timestamps

[00:33] Episode overview: Tetra Pak (the company all over the globe that you probably should know)

[02:19]  Who is Sudhir Saseedharan (in his own words)?

[04:02] Why every adversity (like the pandemic) is an opportunity.

[05:22] Why everyone in the food industry should be considered a key worker. 

[06:38] The packaging that keeps food fresh without preservatives. 

[08:35] 4 main pillars of an optimal workplace experience. 

[10:26] Why you should map out personas of your employees. 

[12:47] The future is now (what does that really mean?). 

[14:15] How to convince leadership to accept constant iteration. 

[17:08] What is the workplace experience like at Tetra Pak?

[22:14]  The challenge and excitement of innovating at a company with a mixed age demographic. 

[23:47] How do you roll out a framework globally (across 170 countries)?

[26:57] Quick-fire question round (coming up with awesome ideas, getting into flow, etc.) 

3 Key Highlights 

1. Workplace experience can be broken down into four main pillars: (1) flexible working arrangements (2) workplaces (3) digital tools (4) health and wellbeing. To understand how to tackle each of these aspects, it can be a good practice to map out employee personas and use the personas to create a framework that considers everyone. 
2. Working productively, dynamically, and capably across teams is heavily catalyzed by having a hyper-collaborative work culture and ethic. The future of work involves everyone and not the workplace experience team alone. 
3. Rolling out a policy framework globally is undoubtedly a complex process. That being said, if we view policy frameworks as a constant work in progress (rather than instructions that are necessarily set in stone) it allows us to manage obstacles as they arise.

Links 

Connect with Sudhir Saseedharan: LinkedIn

The Sharing App: Olio

Connect with Kursty Groves: LinkedIn | Twitter