Thirty bright young graduates began their corporate innings as management trainees at Samsung India this week, but with a twist. Their first corporate job starts with Work from Home.

For them, workstations have been replaced by the favourite corner of their home, conference room meetings by con-calls and coffee machines by cups of coffee from their kitchens. But their excitement remains intact.

These trainees have joined from top Indian B-schools including the IIMs, MDI-Gurgaon, FMS-New Delhi, XLRI-Jamshedpur among others.

In a special programme called Power Talk, leaders from across the company connected with the management trainees to encourage them. They shared their knowledge, personal experiences, and challenges and how they resolved them, giving them a glimpse of corporate life. Besides this, group projects and problem-solving tasks assigned to them as a part of their training will help them build team spirit and get better acquainted with one another.

“It’s a very different beginning as we are not physically present in office,” says Abeer Om, an alumna of MDI-Gurgaon and a traveler at heart, an avid quizzer and a budding frizbee player.

Abeer Om is a traveler at heart

“We had a virtual orientation and even online interactions with different business leaders that has helped understand the company better,” he says.

The thirty have been taken on a virtual tour of their office through videos and photographs – how the office looks, the break out areas, gym, yoga room, café and the Executive Business Centre.

Amidha Jaiswal who comes from the holy city of Varanasi is excited to start her career with Samsung, but says she will miss being in her new office and meeting team members and leads.

Amidha Jaiswal is a sports buff

“Till we meet, we can rely on the technology around us for e-meetings and online calls,” says Jaiswal, who is a sports buff – a javelin thrower and a basketball player.

Tanya Sharma from ISB Hyderabad wishes she could be at her workstation, and use the office gym that she’s heard so much about, and only seen in photographs and videos!

Tanya Sharma with her paintings and sketches

One of the five core values of Samsung is ‘A company is its people’. At Samsung, we are dedicated to giving our people a wealth of opportunities to reach their full potential.

We welcome the new batch of management trainees to the Samsung India family. Their corporate innings has started in the most unique way possible.

Dr Ramdas Pai captured this beautiful shot from his balcony #withGalaxy

A few days back, we shared some stunning photographs of Nature at its absolute best clicked by our young Samsung Members #withGalaxy.

Like most of us, they too have been indoors over the past few weeks. But that hasn’t stopped them from capturing the beauty around them.

From morning dewdrops to twilight skies and everything in between, these pictures are a delight to the eyes.

Also Read: [The Samsung Members Show] Nature in all its Beauty #withGalaxy

Here’s a look at some images that they have captured #withGalaxy while staying at home.

Symmetry with a view captured by Aditya Mane #withGalaxy

High Dynamic Range captured by Aditya Mane #withGalaxy

Morning dewdrops captured by Akath Dua #withGalaxy

Jasleen Singh captured the sunset creatively #withGalaxy

Dr Ramdas Pai captured low light shots using variable aperture #withGalaxy

When you are not watching your favourite movie or show, the television usually is just a black box on the wall. Samsung has transformed televisions to be much more. You can use Samsung Smart TVs in more ways than one – to get that big screen experience when working from home, or to study from home, and even turn it into a music system.

Samsung’s latest range of Smart TVs are revolutionizing TV viewing even further. A perfect amalgamation of technology, aesthetics and functionality, the Smart TV range is designed for millennials and consumers of online content. Not only do they deliver unparalleled viewing experience with sharper and crisper images, but are also high on productivity features.

Discover hidden features of your television that can transform your entertainment and infotainment to a whole new level.

Work hard, play hard

Turn your big TV screen into a full-fledged computer with the Personal Computer Mode. Create documents or work from the cloud to complete your school assignments or presentations. Even without an internet connection, you can mirror your laptop for a big screen experience. Not just that, you can access Microsoft Office 365 services over cloud that will ensure that completing online tasks is easy-breezy! And over it all, multi-layered Knox will keep your content secure at all times.

Unwind with your favourite music

Take a break from all that the work and unwind with some good old music. Do you miss your old music player to listen to your favourite songs? Turn your Smart TV into a virtual Music System. Choose from a library of skins and pick from the different colour options. The addition of the visual experience to your audio experience is sure to wow you.

Weekend Binge to your heart’s ‘content’

When the weekend hits and you want to binge on some of your favourite shows or movies, the Content Guide will be your best friend. It will recommend popular shows and tailor made content. From a list of curated content across OTT platforms, let your Smart TV search, while you sit back and choose to watch more of what you love.

Embrace the digital

Low on space? Home Cloud lets you save your most important files to the Samsung Smart TV, wirelessly and automatically. This will help you free up space on your mobile and keep your data safe at home.

Always connected to your smartphone

With the new Auto Hotspot feature, once you connect your TV to the wi-fi hotspot on your smartphone, it will always remain connected. You don’t have to go through the trouble of pairing your television and smartphone each time. It’s that quick, simple and smooth and is particularly handy when you want to get into video calls or online classes frequently.

An assistant always at your service

Make your TV experience more dynamic and fun with Bixby voice assistant. Ask your voice assistant to look up your favourite content or check the status of your IoT connected devices. The Smart TV also supports Alexa voice assistant. So feel free to choose your way of communicating with your television!

I’ve followed this saying over the last 57 days when we were locked inside our homes, with loads of time at hand.

My job requires me to spot interesting stories, shoot stuff and then go through multiple rounds of edits, before I can put it up on my channel.

Now, without the services of a dedicated camera person, I was at a loss through this period, and that is when I decided to turn this adversity into an opportunity. An opportunity to acquire a new skill.

Much to the chagrin of my videographer friend, I decided to don the role of the cameraperson, but the mighty DSLR isn’t easy to navigate. The ISO settings and ‘f’ values look like algebra to me.

That’s when the Galaxy S20+ came to the rescue.

Abhishek Telang: I decided to don the role of a cameraperson

Smartphones are handy, easy to use and you can download plenty of apps which are very helpful for ‘not so talented’ novices like me. And then, to make a good video or a vlog using a smartphone, all you need is a tripod, that’s it.

The smartphone’s features and the dozens of built-in AI tricks take care of everything else. No stress of figuring out the ISO or aperture settings. The auto setting on the camera app takes care of pretty much every other detail. What I loved most about the Galaxy S20+ is the almost magical audio recording.

The phone allows me to shoot videos in 4K resolution, and sometimes even in 8K, giving content creators like me a lot of freedom to experiment.

Through this lockdown, I have created 70 videos for my YouTube Channel, using my Galaxy S20+. The total DSLR videos I have shot so far are 21!

In fact there is one more video that I am already working on, about my latest hobby, of making kulfi at home. When Samsung Newsroom India first spoke to me to write the article, I planned to make a video about how to make kulfi at home in my Samsung refrigerator, but I gave up that idea as it became difficult to procure all the right ingredients to make the perfect kulfi for this summer, with all the right flavours. I promise to come back with my video on my kulfi making attempt soon. And I will use the Galaxy again.

I know my cameraperson friend isn’t going to like this. Sorry buddy, I have found new love, in my ‘cameraphone’. And I just can’t get over it right now.

[Abhishek Telang is a former Tech Editor turned YouTuber who has been covering technology since 2007. He wrote this piece at the request of Samsung Newsroom India]

Work from home for the last 50 days or more has brought in tremendous learning and have made them evolve, both professionally and personally. Like articulating presentations better, says Shailaja Pathania, who works for the Public Policy team. Or making those chappatis perfectly round as in the case of Hasit Mankodi, who is part of the Customer Services team.

“The last few weeks have been challenging, but our seniors and members of the HR teams, have ensured that our spirits remain high and Team Samsung carries on with its mission to transform lives with our innovations, with a bigger resolve than ever,” says Hasit. “There couldn’t have been a better test of work-life balance than these extended days of work from home.”

Hasit Mankodi: There couldn’t be a better test of work-life balance

Hasit says he’s a changed man. One of the biggest life lessons for him is not to take anything for granted–health, relationships, finances, and the importance of continuing to skill oneself.

One recurring image during WFH was kids interrupting video calls! On one of those days, Shailaja’s two-year-old son jumped in on a video call with his milk bottle, refusing to leave. That was the day she realized the value of team spirit.

“My team enjoyed the new team member’s participation. It just put me at ease,” says Shailaja.

Shailaja Pathania: This is a home from where I work, not an office where I live

To manage the long working hours, she had to put down an extensive schedule for every workday, with small breaks thrown in so that she could manage the toddler. “This is a home from where I work, not an office where I live,” she says. This mantra has allowed her to find time for the kid, and also cook two meals a day (dinner is the husband’s domain!)

Amit Bansal is in a different space altogether. As luck had it, he had to take his family to his hometown Indore for personal work just a week before the lockdown began, and he’s been there since then.

“I have definitely been more productive working from home. Co-working fabulously with the team, understanding the lives of team members, and helping each other manage their time better, for work and for home,” says Amit, who has spent eleven years with Samsung, and is currently part of the online team for consumer electronics.

Amit Bansal: You Only Live Once

And in between work, he has been able to reconnect with his kids, thinking up innovative breakfast recipes for them. “I have started believing in the mantra of YOLO – You Only Live Once and I am now taking time out to do things that I missed out on earlier, which includes building up a fitness regime,” says Bansal.

Varun Nailwal, who leads the wearables team is also rekindling some old passions. He’s had a bunch of graphic novels that he’s collected over the years, but in the humdrum of work-life, he hasn’t paid much attention for years now. “It’s a great stressbuster for me, though not the biggest of all.”

Varun Nailwal: Conversations with my daughter work as an energy booster

The biggest stressbuster for him has to be his 3-year-old daughter. “Conversations with her work as an instant energy booster, any time of the day.” With both parents home, and all the chats they are having, his daughter’s communication skills have improved tremendously.

Work From Home also allowed greater co-working between teams, and getting to know the others better. Hasit says he has realised the importance of communication in our lives—professionally and personally. “Be it communicating with the teams over emails and con-calls or the team interacting with our consumers over the digital platforms, there is a new experience.” Adds Amit, “There is a new found respect for each other, and for each other’s time, which is also the reason for being more productive.”

It’s a new normal, but Change is still a constant. And Change is in fact one of Samsung’s core values. GeNext is living it every day!

My future, with filter and the Galaxy Z Flip

Thankfully, I have always been built for a ‘Work From Home’ culture, thanks in part to a commute that feels like time stood still and in part to my job as a media professional. On a daily basis, most media professionals can work from just about anywhere given they have internet access and a smartphone but for me specifically, home is where the work is.

As part of What Hi-Fi, a magazine the covers high-end home-theater and audio gear, part of my job includes watching movies and listening to music, both of which I prefer to do in the purpose-built in-home studio. So, besides the internet access and smartphone, you can even add popcorn to the list and my work essentials are sorted!

Indulgences aside, the quarantine period has been a time of self-discovery for many of us and served as an assessment tool for a lot of team leaders. Keeping discipline and motivation levels up is definitely a full-time job when you have to manage a team of professionals who are used to a high-strung life of events, reporting, meetings, commuting and the daily grind of ‘office’. Thanks to several apps that make it easier than ever to quickly get more than three co-workers on a call, the workflow itself isn’t hampered much. Add secure intranet server access, instant messaging apps, editing softwares, and Google Docs and the Stuff team is completely capable of churning out issues after issues remotely. The bigger problem is logistics and for a tech magazine, life without new products in hand will eventually come to a grinding halt, one way or the other.

Thankfully, just before #StayHome was imposed, I was lucky enough to get hold of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, which gave me a lot of insights (and entertainment) in isolation. The future of mobile phone form factor, the cinematic 21:9 aspect ratio screen becoming a norm and how technology always apes sci-fi are some of the matters, the Galaxy Z Flip made me think.

Read about the Galaxy Z Flip Here:  The Future Changes Shape: Express Yourself with Galaxy Z Flip

When I was done thinking, I realised that like every tech journalist these days, my house was littered with little nuggets of technology that begged for a deeper dive. Be it teaching my smart speaker new skills, realising that the vacuum cleaner does a better job than the house help or discovering an app that makes me sound like film stars for my Instagram videos.

There’s always something to explore and when you’re done with that, there’s also time left to introspect on how seriously helpful technology can be too. In a global crisis like this, the only reason why most of us have managed to remain sane in the safety of our home is because of technology. I am hoping that in the times to come, we all are a little more respectful of nature and a little more appreciative of the tech that drives us.

[Nishant Padhiar is Editor of two monthly technology and lifestyle magazines – Stuff India and What Hi-Fi India]

This year 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 got 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 BAU (Business as Usual) for these ladies and gentlemen. 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 our interns were as 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.

Debmalya Banik Chowdhury from XLRI: I’m really excited.

Rupal Chopra from MDI, Gurgaon: Great learning experience.

“Anxiety to excitement! It was my first #WorkFromHome experience and I had doubts regarding how the entire process would work. But I ended up getting reassured and 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 delightful batch of 36.

From Team Samsung, it is a big welcome to all. Namaste.