Flexible Working Hours

Making use of flexible working hours, many Indian employees are finding more time to spend with their loved ones and many are even embracing daily fitness regime, says a survey. Moreover, less commuting time in reaching the work place is also helping employees to set apart more time for spending with the family members. Spending time with family has become the priority of at least 85 per cent employees surveyed, provided they are trying to minimize the travel time to reach office, according to flexible work space solutions provider Regus. This was followed by devoting time for exercising and getting fitter by 83 per cent of employees surveyed and 72 per cent of respondents said they would work more.

Importantly, in India, where 70 per cent of New Delhi inhabitants report traffic is a key obstacle to work or school performance, workers reveal that the time saved on commuting would be spent on maintenance of health and well-being activities such as getting fitter at the gym and spending time with members of family. The survey noted that a 51% of respondent are being provided with an option to work from locations other than their company's main offices for at least half a week helping them reduce the overall time spent on commuting from home to office. Interestingly, the study said that 72 % of employees surveyed would also work harder, benefiting the company, if they could reduce their time to commute.

The study also reveals that if businesses were to extend flexible working practices for their staff, not only would employee health, morale and loyalty improve, but also overall increase in productivity as staff would work more. The survey was conducted among over 6,000 professionals in India.

An Indian study published in the IITB Management Review of March 2011 says that Indian women IT professionals can achieve a fine work-family balance by setting priorities in their work and personal lives and by having support systems both at work, formally through HR policies and programmes, and informally through supervisor and co-worker support and at home. The IITB study found that such interventions would go a long way in enabling women to perform better at work, be more committed to the organisation, and ultimately contribute to the growth of the economy and positively impact society as whole.

Khaitan launches Flexitime, Work from Home, etc:

Khaitan & Co is one of India’s oldest and full service law firms comprising over 530 fee earners and consultants including 115 partners and directors. The firm has launched a new leave policy that features flexible work hours and an option to work from home, among other new introductions.

With effect from November 1, 2018, the new work hours at the firm are 9:30 am to 6:30 pm from Monday to Friday, with weekends off. Khaitan has introduced Flexitime for all members of the firm, giving its lawyers the option to work flexible work hours. This subject to the overall working hours in a day not being less that 9 hours. Physical presence in office is mandatory from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm.

As part of its “agile working” policy, the firm has introduced the option of work from home for 12 days in a calendar year.

The firm has also introduced reinstatement of leave dependent on the number of days a member has worked for more than 7 hours a day when on planned leave.

Employees of India and China spend more time at work and less with family: Study

2012, Aug: The study conducted by Regus, a flexible workplace provider, surveyed over 16,000 professionals in 86 countries. It shows a 24% rise in work-life balance in 2012 as compared to 2010, with more than 60% saying this balance had improved since 2010.While 69% enjoyed work more than in 2010, 59% were happy with the amount of time they spent with their family. Over two-fifths felt their companies were actively involved in reducing staff commutes, with India ranked No 2 where professionals feel this way. Take the case of a Gurgaon media professional who would commute daily to Noida. His company now allows him to work from home. The biggest improvement in work-life balance, the study found, was for BRIC countries. India tops countries whose professionals say they are achieving more at work now than in 2010.China and India are the top nations where employees spend more time at work and less with family. in stark contrast to countries like Netherland and Australia.

Source:TOI