Send Workers Home... ; ...Without Sacking Them. Corporates Are Increasingly Putting in Place Telecommuting Policies to Cut Costs and Increase Productivity.

Summary

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Mornings are particularly busy for Simone Premji, 34, Manager, HR, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Mumbai. It's a race against time to complete household chores, but Premji is in no hurry to leave for office simply because she works from home. Premji joined TCS in 2002 and worked from office for three years until she had her daughter, Aliya. She initially took a year off and then wanted to get back to work. As a working mother, she was better off with a flexible working option. She got more than that; TCS gave her the option to work fulltime from home. Now her daughter goes to school, but she continues to work from home.Something that started on a need basis has become a policy and way of working now,she says. TCS does not have a work-from-home (WFH) policy, but extends the same to employees who need it.Mumbai-based Sameer Deshmukh's daughter Richa thinks her father has probably lost his job. What else could explain his presence at home when he should be in the middle of meetings in his office? The answer to Richa's confusion lies in the 'Work from Home Pilot Programme' at IT and BPO company MphasiS where Deshmukh, 42, works as Delivery Leader of the banking vertical. Deshmukh says he can't wait for this pilot programme to become a fulltime policy.With e-mails and phone, there are no issues of connectivity. We are in a world where face-time is not required. Everything, including appraisals, can be done on e-mails,he says.

Simone Premji Manager, HR, TCSWhy telecommute: Needed to balance out work and familyChallenges:Sometimes connectivity and a sense of dis-engagement Premji and Deshmukh are part of a growing number of employees opting for virtual workplaces or telecommuting, with organisations increasingly putting in place fulltime work-from-home programmes. The objective is two-pronged to retain the talent pool and cut costs. But, that's not all. Says Shanthi Naresh, Principal Consultant, Human Capital, Mercer Consulting (India):WFH policies have a great impact on employee engagement... while many organisations explicitly position WFH practices as part of the company's total reward strategy and use it as a great attraction and retention tool, the impact of WFH practices on employee engagement is often underestimated.The trend of telecommuting may strengthen with organisations looking at reining in costs.Today, when most organisations are trying to enforce cost-cutting measures, telecommuting is one of the most effective. From an employee's perspective, though, people may think twice. They will not want to move out of office. The employees may worry along the lines ofout of sight, out of mind,says Elango R., Chief Human Resource Officer, MphasiS.Lower cost, higher productivity While the jury is still out on the benefits of work-from-home, costcutting is clearly one of the drivers.This policy seems to be working well for both the company and the employees. The productivity of our employees has gone up by 20 per cent,says Elango. Elango does some numbercrunching to drive home the point.On an average, a company spends Rs 22,000 per person only on the seat cost. When he is working from home, all his needs like AC, food, transport etc., are taken care of.Elango would know because he works from home as well.We as an organisation have to look at this as a policy and not a privilege because it probably benefits us more than the employee,he says.IT major Cognizant, too, is actively adopting WFH. It is providing the option of telecommuting to people engaged in production support activities to avoid commute at odd hours. Says T. Sridhar, Chief People Officer, Cognizant:Our belief is that if a fifth of our employees becomes part of this new arrangement, over a period of time, we would have effected a 20 per cent saving in investments in real estate, a 20 per cent increase in productivity of our employees and a 20 per cent improvement in customer satisfaction levels when these employees remain available to them on demand.

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Send Workers Home... ; ...Without Sacking Them. Corporates Are Increasingly Putting in Place Telecommuting Policies to Cut Costs and Increase Productivity.

Vandana Arora Assistant Manager, Quality, GenpactWhy telecommute:I have a small kid so I opted to work from homeChallenges:No major challenges :Genpact sees telecommuting benefits in terms of employee satisfa...

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