News - Finlays

Open Sesame! Srinath Jayasuriya
I count myself fortunate in having been
chosen to coordinate almost all of such
transformations at 186 Vauxhall Street,
between my stints at the Tea Warehouse
and stage one of the Cold Storage, located
in Welisara. Looking back: in 2002, what
had been the tea blending floor for many
years underwent a dramatic change in
becoming the present office of Cathay
Pacific, our Airline Division. Two years
later the upper floor of the same building,
having languished as storage space for the
paper sacks which replaced the traditional
tea chests, was transformed for renting as
top-of-the-range office space.
So, in April this year, I and the handful
of colleagues who formed the Buildings
Department, took it upon ourselves to
re-seat virtually all of the divisions in
Colombo on two floors of the same
main office building.
Our new chairman, Kumar Jayasuriya,
required a model, open-plan office, to
promote staff interaction and
communication, a concept that had
already shaped many of the business
houses in Colombo.
Contracting out the various tasks was
quickly done but it took weeks to work out
when the last person would take his seat.
The logistics were very demanding; given
the fact that some people already
working on the ground floor were
awaiting relocation to the floor above,
the refurbishment had to be tackled in
two stages.
Noise, dust and the lack of air conditioning
were potential irritants but our colleagues
deserve high praise for the great degree of
tolerance they displayed towards me and
my support staff.
The supplier of furniture to Finlays for
many years produced drawing after
drawing, determined, with every change, to
achieve an ideal outcome. The final tally, for
both floors, was a mind-blowing 30
drawings. I even had a temporary desk at
the supplier’s office at which I spent a good
part of the first few days of the project.
We now accommodate six different divisions
of the Company on the ground floor and
seven on the upper floor, each with varying
head counts. Both floors have meeting
rooms in keeping with their particular
requirements, also separate document
storage areas; these latter will subsequently
be racked as their contents grow.
Although the office looks compact with
regard to the positioning of staff, there is
provision for reasonable expansion within
each division The bright, white walls will
soon be hung with prints of the now
diversified Finlay operations. In years gone
by these same walls lent their ears to the
sounds of grading, tasting and sampling,
the main operation here before the Tea
Division re-located to Welisara.
Window blinds are of pinhead perforation
which permits ample daylight and provides
a welcome view of the well laid out garden,
cherished and admired by generations of
Finlay employees. Energy saving fixtures
control the electricity, cutting out the use of
unnecessary artificial lighting.
We did not forget the washrooms which
have been re-modeled to the highest
standards, with the latest in modern
washroom hygiene gadgetry chosen by
Thushara Agus who heads the Healthcare
division. Taking the initiative here,
Thushara led an almost all-ladies team,
which moved into occupation during the
stages of work-in-progress. They even went
to the extent of celebrating the occasion by
organizing a traditional breakfast of milk
rice and sweetmeats for all ‘colleagues to
be’ in this shared working environment.
Among the many other stalwarts who put
their shoulders to the wheel, appreciation is
due to Mithraka Fernando, the Head of HR,
who perfectly timed two workshops on the
‘5S’ method of office procedure for every
one of us. I should also mention the
commitment of the young IT team lead by
Vamadevan Parthiban. During times of night
work, we relied on such knowledgeable
gentlemen as Sudesh Wijethilaka and the
new recruit Nimantha Arambegedera, who
coordinated the cabling works for power,
telephones and computers.
We now run a system of access control
for the office by means of redesigned
Company ID cards which operate on
proximity readers.
With interaction the name of the game, the
tea breaks provide all of us with an
opportunity to meet on the top floor while
preparing our own cups of tea. It’s farewell
to memories of a khaki-clad tea boy pouring
from a kettle! Remarkably, this new form of
tea service has turned out to be popular
with all levels of staff. Another popular
innovation has been the creation of an
office pastry shop in an area with main
road frontage; we now have a place to pick a
lunch or order a birthday cake on behalf of
a colleague.
With the refurbished office up and running
and given plenty of enthusiasm for change,
we are all working in the utmost harmony!
13