'Done beautifully': Lockdown spurs firms to take in new employees virtually

The lockdown has spurred firms to onboard new hires virtually, report Sai Ishwar and Bibhu Ranjan Mishra

Arundhati Bhattacharya, former chairperson of State Bank of India, was scheduled to join Salesforce, a US-based software major, on April 1. Yet, even though India and various parts of the US were in lockdown by that time, her onboarding process went off smoothly. “It was quite a surprise that they could do it, and they did it beautifully. The onboarding happened over video-conferencing,” says the former banker, who has joined Salesforce India as its chairman and CEO.

As soon as Bhattacharya completed the joining and induction process, she was introduced via video conferencing to key people at the company’s headquarters