Across India, Gleeds employees have been doing their utmost to inspire the next generation as part of this year’s Global Challenge. Here, Garima Fernando from our Bangalore office discusses the activities created for students and young children by Gleeds, and the potential impact this will have on the construction industry across the country.

Q: This years’ Global Challenge is all about inspiring the next generation. Tell us a little bit about what the Gleeds team in India has been doing?

In line with this year’s theme of Global Challenge 2017, Gleeds India participated in inspiring the next generation through various skill transfer workshops across the country. We conducted a 2 hour workshops targeting a total of 250 students from engineering schools & colleges in Chennai, Pune and Bangalore. Through these sessions we were able bring boost awareness of the exciting opportunities the construction industry has to offer. 

Q: You have also been doing some fundraising as part of the challenge. Tell us about the ‘Gleeds Fiesta’ event and how has it impacted the local community?

For Gleeds Fiesta we had 25 orphan/underprivileged children from local schools. As the name suggests, the carnival themed event included fun games, food and goodies. Our mission here was to give the children a day of unlimited food and fun combined with learning. Goodie bags were given to all of children, which included reading and colouring books, stationery and winter caps. The funds for buying these items came from our employees through minute to win it games played between July – Sept 2017. We also organised a salary contribution initiative amongst our employees.

Q. Why is it important to reach out to young people and share your skills and resources?

Youth is our Future. In the coming years there will be multiple generations within the workplace, which will bring a number of challenges – communication styles, values, job expectations, and more. The biggest tasks facing a multigenerational work environment are the gaps of talent, knowledge, skill, experience, and wisdom. It is crucial that we prepare the younger generation towards these working challenges.

Q: Why is it important for companies such as Gleeds focus on inspiring students to think about their potential career paths and the possibility of a career within the construction industry?

The construction industry will never stop growing. As long as modern civilisation exists, there will be always be a need to build and remodel homes, commercial buildings and roads etc. Gleeds has many success stories of employees building their own success ladders and reach the top within their chosen career paths.