Women’s Web is saying Goodbye! Please make sure you read this important notification.
The current crisis showed us that work from home is possible for everyone as long as everyone shares the house work load too. Is this a vision we can take forward?
There is a noticeable shift in the mood of late. The focus is changing from ‘when will this pandemic end’ to ‘how do we live with this virus’. A subject that has recently been dominating conversations with family, friends and colleagues is what our workplaces may look like going forward.
Internationally, leading organisations have voiced their views – flexible work is the future and it’s here to stay. Work from home is finally mainstream – proving that many of the barriers existed only in our minds.
How will India react? The narrative still seems focused on how we should open up our workplaces. Conversations are still centered around the question – ‘When will we start going back to work?’ This, despite the fact that many of those privileged enough to hold employment in the organised sector or run knowledge based businesses are already ‘at work’.
That leads to the question – what is ‘work’ itself? Achievement of a desired outcome through sustained individual and organizational efforts? Are location, physical interaction and adherence to specific hours always essential for this?
Culturally, India has not embraced flexibility at work. Part-time work or flexible work has been a hard fought battle waged mainly by women wanting to strike a balance between their personal and professional responsibilities.
Barring a few exceptions, flexible work arrangements have never been offered uniformly to employees regardless of gender or parental responsibilities. Diversity, as a human resources goal, has generally involved attracting/retaining female employees through special work arrangements rather than levelling the playing field. And for many women flexibility has often come at the cost of career progression and equality in remuneration.
Can this health crisis then be the trigger for a change that India Inc has been reluctant to make voluntarily? Will this crisis finally break the prevailing mindset and help us all demand a work environment that is healthier, more egalitarian and seamlessly unites personal and professional goals?
I would like to hazard a guess and be brave enough to say, Yes!
Why? For one, this crisis has forced a more equitable distribution of responsibilities within the family unit in the absence of an extended support system. This has come with a whole new appreciation for the challenges involved in balancing work and family. It has also brought home the point that there are a number of tasks and roles that can easily be performed from home or rather from anywhere with a strong internet connection.
A lot needs to be done to make this change successful and permanent and not all of it is easy – robust processes and policies to ensure efficiency and productivity, balancing in-person team interaction with flexibility, harnessing the right technology to optimum effect and more. Having worked in flexible roles for a number of years, I agree these challenges are significant. However, they are not insurmountable!
What do organisations stand to gain – the potential benefits could be huge in terms of reduction in organizational costs, enhanced employee health and well-being, a reduced carbon footprint and greater diversity – not just gender but in terms of location, disability, etc. The potential benefits for society at large – happier families, cleaner air and decongested cities to name a few!
Will India Inc embrace this vision of the future?
Image source: shutterstock
read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
Dear Women’s Web Community Member,
You may have wondered at our being on the quieter side during the last couple of months. Thank you for your patience, and we wanted to come back to you with a detailed note on what’s been happening at our end of things.
When we first began Women’s Web, as a blog from one woman’s desk along with a few like-minded souls, little could we have imagined the heights that it would soar to. Over the years, Women’s Web has published over 20000 stories (almost all by women), empowered countless women with the ideas, community and resources to chase their dreams, employed hundreds of women in core and project-based roles, and in the process, emerged as the OG women’s community in India. It has also inspired many others to build communities of a similar nature, all enabling women (and other-underrepresented groups) in their own ways.
Please enter your email address