Cadila earmarks Rs 25 cr to improve office infrastructure

Jyotsna Bhatnagar

Ahmedabad, Oct 3: At a time when corporates are busy handing out pink slips, the Ahmedabad-based pharmaceutical major Cadila Pharmaceuticals Limited (CPL) is in recharge mode.

The company has set apart Rs 31 crore for improving the infrastructure and working environs of its employees in an attempt to rejuvenate them and maximise productivity.

Speaking to The Financial Express, top CPL sources said the infrastructure development exercise had been undertaken in view of the fact that “in the emerging global scenario concept, organisational adaptability to change is assuming increasing importance.”

Not surprisingly, therefore, the pharma major is busy sprucing up the interiors of existing office complexes and is on the verge of completing a spanking new Rs 18-crore corporate complex at Bhat off Dholka near Ahmedabad. Company officials revealed that the 350-strong corporate staff in Ahmedabad, currently working out of a CPL building in the heart of the city, would be relocated to the new premises within the next few weeks.

Located in close vicinity of Ahmedabad and yet far from the madding crowd, CPL’s new corporate headquarters have been aesthetically designed by well-known architect Hasmukh Patel, who has also designed the Gujarat High Court.

Generously spread over a 15-acre stretch of verdant, lush green land, the complex is a dream office for any employee.

The complex, which houses six blocks for various SBUs and departments, has a huge reception area too for visitors as well as an exhibition area, a centralised conference facility and eight conference rooms in an independent block.

Apart from that, CPL has also constructed a luxurious guest house with 34 rooms within the complex replete with a state-of-the-art training centre and other hi-tech facilities, including an amphitheatre with a capacity of 500 people and recreational facilities like a health club, gymnasium and jogging tracks.

But what company executives maintain would enhance the competence and productivity of the employees is the user-friendly office environs.

For example, the automatic lighting system which is energy-saving and shadowless, is programmable to provide required levels of illumination including an inbuilt intelligent programming system.

Furthermore, the entire area in the complex possesses air-conditioned facilities, with hybrid systems comprising an air-cooled package system and window air- conditioners. The complex also offers a wide scope for futuristic expansions.

And for those employees who suffer from panic reactions, the moment the boss summons him into his well-proportioned office, the CPL complex is a dream with almost no well-defined demarcations pandering to hierarchy.

“The whole set-up is extremely democratic and functional in nature,” says Mr AR Kurup, general manager, corporate communications.
Office complexes of CPL in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Calcutta are also currently undergoing a facelift. For, as a company official puts it, “If human resources are vital for the growth of any organisation, then ensuring that they have work conditions which optimise productivity is our duty.”