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Work-life balance
Hema Subramaniam
This article is yet another outcry against the outrageous hours that Corporate India seems to demand. I have personally interacted with several HR managers on this subject and can appreciate that quite a few are grappling with initiatives to find a solution. One HR head of an MNC IT&ITES giant took my question on this subject with a rueful laugh and was honest enough to admit that there was no real solution to this.
I have lived and worked in both the U.S. and India. While I have seen “thought leadership” and “key executives” of several corporates work hard there, they have strictly maintained 40-hour weeks and sacrosanct weekends. While I concede there are exceptions here, I also believe that they have become more effective and productive because they are allowed to re-charge, pursue other interests and generally have a life.
I interact with zillions of middle and senior management executives in India. Here, it seems to have been reversed. Forty-hour weeks? Work-free weekends? That’s a joke in our “knowledge economy” bubble. Client calls will usually start when we should be winding down, because our clients are in a different part of the world, and they do not really give a damn that they are eroding into our private time. The crude logic being, the one who pays the piper calls the tune.
But should Corporate India meekly accept that? Could they not firmly and collectively send the message out that their executives are their wealth and should be better taken care of? Initiatives like “work from home,” flexi-work, etc., have not been successful. People who choose that option have become marginalised and subtly excluded, with their career clearly nose-diving.
This has forced most of them to give in and get back to the mainstream career force or make a tough priority decision. I have come across several “power women” who chose the work from home option. In a few months, they had to admit that it was killing their growth in the company.
We are a nation currently riding the knowledge economy wave. We have huge intellectual assets. We are using these assets to peddle knowledge. Should we not have the intelligence to realise that a relaxed and happy workforce would be more productive? Should we not realise that these “sweatshops” cannot endure?
Social implications
What are the social implications here? We have been gravitating towards nuclear families. Nearly every family I know of have a mortgage hanging over their head. Managing mortgages ensures that both the husband and wife have to work. Corporate India ensures that they go home late. In this situation, our children are trying to survive and grow up. Have they been given a choice? Would I prefer to have a parent around or a swanky car to go to school?
In one seminar, an HR head contested that work-life balance is about effective time management. I stoutly disagree. I can be an effective employee, but if my company has an unstated culture that rewards those who keep long hours (no link to productivity or merit) and frowns upon “clock-watchers,” then my goose is well and truly cooked.
Logically, “work-life balance” will remain a mere concept (useful for debates and workshops) unless there is a collective change in Corporate India. There has to be serious management buy-in and it has to be a wave that should ripple across all levels, and all domains.
Managers should be made accountable every time they request an employee to stay back. Clients should be embarrassed to consistently demand service at crazy hours. Employees should be less passive and question the need to work extra hours except in a crisis. Employers should create a culture across the company that puts all this in place and then shout from their rooftops if they have achieved this.
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