FUN@WORK

When you think of an IT company in Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India, do you imagine a boring office filled with geeks in formals? You’re proved wrong the minute you walk into the Yahoo! R&D office.

Chief operating officer Pranesh Anthapur happily took us around the “chill-out nooks” dominated by foosball, chess and table tennis tables, as well as TV screens on each floor of their five-storey office.

They believe in breaking set hierarchies when it comes to de-stressing. “During these matches, the concept of ‘senior’ and ‘junior’ is done away with. It’s about the best performer winning,” says Anthapur.

Theme based floors
Each floor in this office is based on a particular theme, and flaunts murals designed by employees. The fourth and fifth seem to be the most popular the former is based on cartoons, while the latter is all about the music.

Teams work informally
The informal atmosphere  while ideating, or simply hanging out has a lot to do with their chilled-out work
culture. Employees have the freedom to do up their cabins as they please.

Gaming corners
Table tennis, carrom and chess can wait; foosball is the hot favourite among employees. We saw newbies and old hats take on each other in a friendly game, a la Joey and Chandler in the sitcom, F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

Ladies special
When the women work late or spend long hours in the office, they take a breather in a cosy room that’s “strictly reserved for girlie sessions”.

Loo Bega
We were quite tickled by the little signboards outside the restrooms Go-Pee for men, and Go-Pee-Ka for women.