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Society
IT at Home
by Tripat Kaur
More and more information
technology companies are offering work-from-home options to their
employees. With the workforce becoming a key resource for the IT
companies, they are offering innovative flexible workplace options to
retain and attract the best resources.
This is a particularly happy situation for women who aspire for a
healthier work-life balance.
"I have been working from home for the last eight months and everybody
tells me I am extremely lucky. I also believe that my productivity and
loyalty has increased tremendously since I started working from home. I
am grateful that my company helped me solve the problem of looking after
my kid," says Pooja Sehgal, who works for Delhi-based Impetus
Technologies.
Although this option is offered to all employees, it is usually take up
by the women, especially after or during pregnancy, which increases
their home responsibility.
"We roughly have about 1-4 per cent of our staff working on this mode on
an average. A majority of the women avail of the flexi-time option,"
says Kalpana Srinivasan, Head-HR, Aspire Systems. Aspire Systems is a
firm helping software companies create innovative products.
The concept of office time itself is undergoing a dramatic change.
Companies are no longer interested in employees who come and serve
'chair time' with not much involvement in work and then head back home.
It is clearly a win-win situation for both the women employees and their
employers. It helps the employers attract a wide calibre of employees
and reduces employee turnover. Flexible workplace also reduces
absenteeism, increases employee morale.
The concept was initially started by the IT majors. "We believe that
flexible work environment gives employees more flexibility and control
over their work as an important means to achieve greater work/life
balance and enhanced productivity. We (at IBM) are flexible in how and
where the work gets accomplished and are focused on results and positive
business outcomes and not 'face time/chair time'. Flexibility at the IBM
workplace is a big attraction to new talent and increases effectiveness,
focus and productivity," says Martin Appel, Country Manager, HR, IBM
India.
In fact, IBM offers four types of work options: Compressed/flexible work
week, which entails that the full, regular work week is compressed into
less than five days; individualized work schedule, where employees have
flexible timings; part-time reduced work schedule; and lastly, a
work-from-home option where an employee performs a majority of her
primary duties from home.
However, the picture is not all rosy. There are some issues which have
to be worked out before the concept is accepted as a regular practice.
"The days I have some responsibility at home, like taking my son to a
doctor or picking him from school (for some reason), I take the
work-from-home option. Although this option certainly makes life easier,
one cannot always follow it, especially if one wants to climb the
corporate ladder. The more you grow, the more one has to interact,
attend meetings etc, and all this is not possible from home," says
Sanjeevani Mahajan, Project Manager, Manufacturing Vertical, KPIT
Cummins.
There are practical difficulties. The difficulty of managing home
workers; monitoring their performance; and the difficulty of maintaining
staff development. There is also a risk of information security and
difficulty in upgrading skills through training or knowledge sharing.
"This option may hamper the growth prospects of an employee especially
if the employee wants to play a managerial role later. However, if the
role is of a single contributor, it doesn't matter," says Girish
Wardadkar, President and Executive Director, KPIT Cummins.
People working from home also have to struggle against challenges.
"Initially, it was difficult to do the balancing act. Somebody would
drop by to 'see' my child etc, but now it is very clear. I have decided
not to get up for everything that is happening in the home. Initially, I
used to go to office once in a fortnight but now I go once a week. I
plan to continue with this option till my child starts going to a play
school," says Sehgal.
However, Sehgal does not believe that this arrangement is going to
hamper her growth prospects. The company has been very supportive. "When
I started working like this, there were two people in my team and today
there are six, so obviously my profile has increased."
Most people say their productivity increases when they work from home.
"I am comfortable in my home. I believe that productivity increases
since I am at peace that my child is well taken care of. Moreover, I
save on travel time. I am connected to my office all the time," says
Mahalaxmi Santharam, Project manager at Chennai-based Aspire
Technologies. She has a three-month old child and has been working from
home for the last nine months. She is four years old in the company.
March 19,
2006
By arrangement with
Women's Feature Service
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The Week of March 19, 2006
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India Aghast at Minority Imperialism by Dr.
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Baby Servants of Baba Logs by Malvika Kaul
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A Language for Love by Akshay
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