Every spring, bright young students from B-school campuses across India head to the corporate world for internships. At Samsung India, these bubbly millennials are eagerly awaited every year, as they infuse the company’s offices and meeting rooms with new enthusiasm.
This year, too, it is no different, only the rules have changed!
No handshakes, no audis buzzing with activities, no gym or yoga sessions, no foosball or table tennis, no conference room meetings and no snacks to munch on together! This year’s Band of 36, mostly GenZs, are experiencing Samsung and togetherness from their respective homes, across different cities. It is different, but exciting nonetheless.
The interns were inducted into Team Samsung virtually, given the focus on remote working and social distancing.
Behind the scenes, Samsung’s HR and IT teams worked round-the-clock to provide corporate coordinates and software solutions, so that it would be business as usual for these young men and women. To make the induction exciting, Samsung India’s leadership team joined in via video conferencing to put the new interns at ease.
The induction session was a marathon five-hours, but it was encouraging to see the interns cheerful and full of energy.
“I would call this batch of interns one of the luckiest because the first lesson that they have been taught is that with technology and innovation, everything is possible. They have joined Samsung in our endeavour to make remote working and social distancing a success,” says Sameer Wadhawan, Head of Human Resources at Samsung India.
“Anxiety to excitement! It was my first #WorkFromHome experience and I had doubts regarding how the entire process would work. But I ended up being reassured and got a nice overview of Samsung,” said Silpa PS, from XLRI, Jamshedpur.
All interns are required to start work on their projects immediately. To help them, Samsung India has provided each intern with a buddy, guide and mentor.
“It’s an unusual experience to be an e-buddy. It’s a challenging time, and we all need to pitch in to make this wonderful programme a success,” said Riddhi Ranjan, Insights and Innovation, e-Com Team at Samsung India.
From setting up their home office to finding work-life balance, the two-month #WorkFromHome regimen will be quite a journey for this enthusiastic batch of 36.