Having worked with some of the top Indian and Multinational IT organisations in the last decade or so, what has always baffled me is the treatment meted out to employees in India in comparison to those in developed countries like the US or even countries in Europe.
Some of the more revered concepts like telecommuting, flexible working hours, Work From Home, Vacation leaves, Paid Sabbaticals etc. only remain theoretical concepts for workers in India. Many of these companies have more favoring and relaxed working conditions for employees outside India.
Why is there such a disparity in treating employees in India? I can only surmise the answer in one word; "TRUST" or the lack of it.
Does India Inc. believe that employees in India would be less productive if they are allowed to Work from home? Or will their dedication wither if they are given a longer vacation? Will Indian employees be less productive than their western counterparts if they worked remotely?
Read Here on : The real reasons you are not allowed to work from home
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic brought to light the multitudinous challenges that Indian organisations faced amidst the scramble to move all work to homes. The lack of cultural preparedness (Policies, processes and mind set) ensured that many of these organisations (including the Large and Medium sized businesses) were caught off guard in their response to the evolving pandemic.
It is a damning fact that a significant section of companies in India do not provide any form of Work From Home facility. A report by Gartner, a leading IT service management company, says that 54 per cent of the companies in India do not have enough technology and resources for employees to work to home. The situation is still worse with companies which are outside the IT Services Space. Employees from the non-IT companies and small and medium enterprises (SMBs) are the worst-hit in India as most of them have little or no clue about how these messaging and collaboration tools work. They also seem to be oblivious to the fact that by the end of 2030, there would be a 30% increase in the number of employees preferring remote work.
Indian Managers who are ardent supporters of Command and Control form of functioning, compounded by the strict hierarchical norms of these companies have remained a impediment to flexible and more accommodative work rules. Even organisations in the forefront of technology do not fare significantly better in achieving these.
Time in seat is still viewed as more powerful indicator of productivity than any other metric. It is hence not ironic that a recent study conducted by E&Y found that 70% of Indian HR Heads and CHRO's considered "loss of productivity" was the single biggest concern among work from home employees. Thus the issues plaguing flexible working conditions in India are more psychological than technological. This, we could call the great cultural road block.
But things were to take a dramatic change with the Corona Scare. The Pandemic made possible what years of lobbying couldn't - making remote working a norm (not luxury). Lakhs of Indians moved overnight to "Work from Home" model. Laptops, Desktops, Internet Dongles and all other paraphernalia required for remote working were procured in record time. While many of the companies struggled initially, they also managed to recover smartly to transition work from office to Homes. At the time of writing this article, almost all the Indian IT companies have moved to Work From Home (WFH).
But this transition hasn't been easy for India Inc. or its employees. Barring a few IT organisations, many of them struggled to provide the necessary infrastructure for people to work at home. This sudden shift also put employees at stress as most of them had never "worked at home" in the past. Initially though many of them considered it as a blessing in disguise allowing them to spend more time with Family, it has turned out to be quite stressful as they get frustrated with inadequate internet bandwidth, technical glitches in accessing organisation's resources, multiple scheduled and unscheduled calls (aka meetings) from their supervisors (over zealous bosses trying to check on their teams), multiples sources of distractions and to top it all the conflict of doing household chores along with official work (especially for Women Workers).
But could India Inc have reduced the pain involved in such a transition? Yes, undoubtedly so with more radical preparation. The failure to establish a culture that embraces flexible working was India Inc.'s undoing. All this starts with Reposing Faith and Trust in its employees. Of course there would be outliers (those employees who wouldn't be up to speed), but then which system is 100% perfect? We always had slackers at office too, didn't we?
Hopefully the Corona Pandemic has taught India Inc. valuable lessons in Trusting its employees and backing it up with a "Work Culture" that is less forbearing, more progressive and yet one that keeps an ardent eye on accountability.
Additional Reading here: WHY 100% WORK FROM HOME (WFH) IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR TECH SECTOR IN INDIA CURRENTLY
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