Making time work for you

THE CONCEPT of alternative work schedule may still be a new phenomenon in India, but once the idea takes off it may prove to be a boon to women, specially working mothers.

According to Woody Allen, 80 percent of success is showing up. Alternative work schedules are for those who succeed by showing up on their own terms. The reasons that alternative work schedules "work", vary from childcare requirements to quality of life issues. If you can convince the management, alternative work schedules are ideal for people who do not need or cannot manage the early morning sparrow getting its first worm.

In the '80s, it was called flexi time. A law firm or realtors would bend the rules for employees with infants. It was one of the only times when life was allowed to interfere with regular working hours. At that juncture, flexi time was not frowned upon, but it was not welcomed either, and when granted, it generally happened with an unjustified cut in pay.

That was then and this is now. The luxury of having an alternative work schedule is the chief reason workers cite for leaving the clawing grip of corporate India. Within the bounds of corporate space, anyone with skills that are in great demand, programmers for example, can usually establish an alternative work schedule.

If you know C++ or Linux as you do the back of your hand, alternative work schedules could consist of working daytimes during winter and nights during the summer, or if the blessing of air conditioning at company cost is attractive, vice-versa.

For those of us involved with less specialist careers, alternative work schedules are the chance to commute during non- peak hours and to work from home. It is not less work; its more intensified, more organized work. If you have the discipline to be as productive on your own as you are in the office, you can pull off an alternative work schedule and actually produce much better work.

There are advertising agencies run entirely by women, and these do take care to see that the concerns of their employees are addressed sympathetically. This is not entirely usual in advertising, as frenetic activity and no concern for long hours is the norm.

For people looking for similar situations in new jobs, the general recommendation is to find out whether the firm or immediate supervisor is open to the concept. There are still schools of thought in management that hearken back to the idea that you have to earn the right to flexible time. This is completely out of step with today's lifestyles, and, with the equipment we have now, there is no reason more people cannot be working when and wherever they want.

Employees fortunate to have alternative work schedules are often equipped by the their employers with batteries of digital devices to stay in touch. The advent of laptops, wide-area-networks and of course the Web, has turned meetings into conference calls and coffee machine consultations into e-mails. Companies now make huge investments in wide area networks and laptop equipment that give workers the same access to internal databases and software they would have had they been manning a workstation in the office. Many portal companies make company-wide intranets available to employees or consultants working at home to better suit today's worker requirements.

Where to find a job offering alternative work schedules?The best way to start looking for places that meet these requirements are major corporations offering intranets and equipment for telecommuting. High-tech startups with forward-thinking founders are generally a good source of such jobs. Firms with a female- centric corporate culture will generally provide the needed alternative schedules. This is because women best understand the demands of family life, they tend to be more supportive of workers who are willing to sacrifice their evenings for mornings at home with their children. Look for firms with female CEOs or those who work with largely female workforces.

A couple of final points to remember:

If you find yourself negotiating the terms of a new position, take a minute beforehand to decide whether an alternative work schedule is essential to your needs. The phenomenon is still somewhat new and will be certainly considered a perk. This means that you may end up getting paid less than those of your colleagues who work normal hours. If you find yourself negotiating alternative work schedules with a high-tech startup, be prepared to be flexible. Not only are startups technology- centric, they're poised for fast growth. That means being on-call for projects, at all times which may require you to work weekends and latenights--in addition to the time, you are normally scheduled to work!

ABHIMANYU ACHARYA

abhimanyu@india.com