The latest change in the HR policy of IT major Infosys would be music to the ears of employees who grumble about the rigours of a long, daily commute to work.
The BusinessLine reported on Thursday that the country’s second largest IT exporter notified its employees that they could work nine days in a month from their home, as opposed to four days, which was the previous rule.
Speaking about the move, former Executive Vice-President of Sify, David Appasamy told The News Minute, “I think it’s a very enlightening move given commuting is such a time-consuming task nowadays.”
The former Executive Vice-President of Sify said, “It makes a lot of sense to give employees a chance to let them work from home” if the work can be done remotely. He said that this move won’t only work better for the employees but will also help the employers cut cost on office infrastructure.
He said companies should take a considered decision as a generalization can’t be made about “what sort of functions could possibly suit work from home”.
He further stated that taking a cue from IT, other industries also should try to implement this concept.
Companies should utilize the level of connectivity given the ease with which people do things online, and the ability to measure productivity today.
“Editing, publishing work can be done from home. A lot of designers don’t do well in crowded environments; they prefer to ideate on their own,” he said.
Taking a different line, one expert who enjoys a close association with the company, on condition of anonymity said, “It’s not a good move since it is a service company and the company has a very large number of inexperienced, young people.”
“Young workers require face-to-face interaction with their project managers and they have to work as a team. The system is not mature enough to do that yet unlike US, Germany or anywhere else where the workforce is more mature and more disciplined.”
“So, if there’s work from home for nine days, senior people will surely work from home and for a young company and a growing workforce, it will hurt the productivity and the ability to deliver, as projects are done by teams and not individuals.”
He said, “When 60% of the workforce is young and still learning, and senior people are not there, it will challenge their learning process. So if two people, three people come there, there is no teamwork and projects are done by a team.”