On a weekday afternoon in June, the global capability hub of 7-Eleven, in Bengaluru, is buzzing. The bright neon signage at the entrance leads to the reception that mimics a store counter of the Dallas-based convenience retail major with its signature cold Slurpee vending machine and a hot coffee dispenser.
Each workstation has dual monitors, huddle spaces, and single-seater focus rooms for ‘deep work’. There are meeting rooms of all sizes. But then, all meetings don’t need to be formal, so there is a colourful space with relaxed seating where a watch party (people gather to watch a show) can be hosted. Some take a break from work. They are at the simulated racing room, at the gym, or at the pickleball court.
Each of the six floors it occupies has a theme. There is a ‘digital forest’ that has a podcast room, a jazz club with a jukebox and karaoke stage, and a popcorn vending machine. There is the ‘Cars of 7-Eleven’ floor, which is inspired by the cars parked before 7-Eleven stores in the US. The walls are splashed with colourful graffiti and the 7-Eleven brand colours in red, orange and green.
The aim of this global capability centre (GCC) is to provide a great work experience. The average age of an employee here is 26 years and everything mentioned above caters to this age bracket.
In fact, that’s the goal of all GCCs in India who have upped the game in how their office spaces look and feel. In turn, it is slowly reimagining the face of Indian office real estate.
International hub
India has quietly become the largest GCC hub in the world today with 2,117 such centres generating close to $100 billion in revenue. Over two million are employed by these global centres across Indian metros.
Office leasing took off this year on a strong note, led by GCCs, as they continue to deepen their footprint in the region. As per property advisory CBRE India’s estimates, GCCs leased 9.1 million sq.ft. of office space during the January–March quarter, accounting for 44% of the total leasing.
Geographically, Bengaluru remained central to GCC activity, capturing the largest share, followed by Hyderabad and Delhi-National Capital Region.
Premiumization of offices is an emerging trend; GCCs are only pushing the envelope further, with branding, location and employee experience being the key.
Just like GCCs are leaving no stone unturned to retain talent by creating premium workspaces, developers and office park owners such as real estate investment trusts, or Reits, too are building and designing offices suited to their needs.
To set up a GCC unit for Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Bengaluru, the design team of Embassy REIT made two trips to the former’s Sydney headquarters.
The Embassy team met with the bank’s architects to understand its culture and philosophy that the new office would reflect. The fit out process is currently on for a 1.1 million sq ft workspace across eight levels at the Embassy Manyata Business Park.
The bank’s new office will have a massive grandstand, with an amphitheatre seating, that will provide a congregation space for town halls or other large meets. There are stress relief zones, with gaming on each floor, and access to wellness and sleeping pods. Since the kitchen is an important feature in the Sydney office, the Bengaluru GCC will also have an elaborate food programme, with live cooking and freshly churned-out food.
Over two decades ago, when Rohan Lobo, partner and industry leader at Deloitte South Asia, visited a company’s back office as it was called then, in Bengaluru, it felt like a sweatshop with poor air-conditioning and lighting. Such shops have come a long way since then—India’s GCC story has moved well beyond cost arbitrage. They are an extension of the front office and house critical functions and high-value talent. And global companies want to make their Indian employees feel part of the wider organization, Lobo said.
Take Walmart Global Tech’s large facility on Bengaluru’s Outer Ring Road, a tech corridor. Jane Peter Lobo, an analyst at the company, said the workspace made him feel connected to the Walmart story. The meeting spaces are built for everything from a quick five-minute conversation to a full sprint session, and every floor has a wellness room, a mother's room, and a doctor's room. Sam Walton’s (Walmart Inc. founder) legacy is woven into the office in a way that makes employees think about why decisions get made the way they do here, Lobo said.
South Carolina-headquartered Sonoco, a 125-year-old packaging firm, set up its GCC in Hyderabad last year. Sonoco Performance Hub has a 30,000 sq.ft. office and recently signed up 22,000 sq.ft. of additional floor space.
It shortlisted India among at least seven other countries during a location analysis, due to talent availability, the GCC ecosystem, supportive government policies and real estate. After initially operating from a WeWork India centre, it got its own customized workspace. As a legacy manufacturing company, it wanted the office to reflect its DNA. So, the office walls have a lot of pictures as well as a Sonoco history wall.
The wow factor
With the shift from India as an offshoring base to an AI-powered strategic hub, GCCs have also moved up the real estate value chain. They are taking up larger spaces. GCCs are either designing themselves or telling developers to create workspaces with the average per-square-foot space per employee going up to 125–130 sq.ft., compared to 80–100 sq.ft. in traditional offices. Specialised sectors such as semiconductors require even more space to accommodate labs and collaborative work areas.
There is a clear shift in the design brief from multi-national clients for their GCCs, said Mayank Kumar Sharma, director and chief financial officer, Eleganz Interiors Ltd, which has been doing commercial fit-outs for four decades. There are ‘me’ and ‘we’ zones for personal spaces and collaborative zones. There are hospitality-infused facilities, height-adjustable desks instead of rigid seating, and dual monitors for each employee.
As the GCC momentum continues to pick up, and account for a large pie in office leasing, developers are rushing to adapt and offer more value. How far would they go? Ask Bengaluru’s Prestige Group.
In its brand-new business park Lakeshore Drive, the developer has entirely leased out 2.6 million sq.ft. to tech and capability centres of ride-hailing giant Uber, investment firm Blackstone and DXC Technology. Not just office fit-outs, Prestige has worked on the mobility and accessibility of the park as well—by widening the road, building a flyover and even adopting the new Prestige Bellandur metro station, which will be integrated with the property.
Everything in the glittering world of GCC workspaces appears to be about the ‘wow factor’.