Now-a-days, a regular day in my life starts with waking my daughter, getting her ready for pre-school and then dropping her off. Yesterday, as I was driving, I saw office goers rushing in their vehicles or walking to get a cab. Well, this is not an unusual sight, but suddenly a thought came to my mind.
What do we work for? Money, Success, Our Family, Our Dreams. Well, this varies from person to person. But, how much are we ready to stretch for work? I guess, whether we say it or not, we are always ready to stretch ourselves a bit in the name of work, either to earn more or probably, finish something today for a better and relaxing tomorrow. But, this bit never stops. While trying to make our tomorrow better, we might be ignoring our today.
We get so stressed, if we miss office on a working day or be late for some meeting or if get an unexpected call from the boss. Well, the bottom line is that amidst all work, we forget to relax and take time for ourselves.
We tend to think that employers want us to work more within stipulated working hours or want us to outperform or keep us under pressure, but the reality is changing, rather it has already changed. Employers across the world are taking necessary steps to ensure health and well-being of their employee, more than they have done till now. They are facilitating their work-life balance and working towards making them ‘happy’ individuals, both in their professional and personal lives.
With the new changes in the Maternity Leave in India, Working Hours rule in Sweden and the UK, modifications to Paternity Leave in New Zealand, changes made by Indian employers in terms of travel and many more in the pipeline are just a few examples of how the business ecosystem wants their employees to thrive, along with them.
Maternity Leave in India: According to the new ruling by the Ministry of Labour, expecting mothers in the private sector companies will be getting 26 weeks of maternity leave instead of 12 weeks. The proposal was for 32 weeks, but 26 weeks have been approved for the private sector. With this law, India is at par with 42 countries, who have maternity leaves exceeding 18 weeks. Now, new and working mothers can enjoy the settling time with their baby and plan for getting back to work more effectively. Well, we want more, but the line has to be drawn somewhere!
Working Hours in Sweden: With Sweden switching to a six-hour work day, companies wish to see happy faces at work with increased productivity. This step was a conscious decision to make employees spend more quality time with their families and return with added energy and zeal to work the next day. Basically, this will reduce their stress levels and increase their performance at work. You will find most of the offices empty by 5 p.m. and you probably, won’t find clients calling or pestering you after working hours. It has been found that across Sweden only 1% of employees work for more than 50 hours a week, which is the lowest among the average, which is around 13%.
Moreover, parents get 480 days of paid leaves to divide among themselves. Many might feel that things will slow down with this pace, but it was found to be far more beneficial in terms of employee health and quality of life, which in turn affects Company growth. Well, this is just an example for other economies; those who can afford it, should go for it!
Travel working Hours in UK: Travelling to and forth work locations is one of the most time consuming activities and affects many in a good or bad way. According to a new ruling by the European Court of Justice, the time taken to travel to and from the office, mainly for those who do not have a fixed office or the presence at the first and last location travelled for work, will be considered into their working hours. This is applicable to ‘mobile workers’. This eventually affects their pay. So, if you have a permanent office, you are less likely to be affected, how much ever time you take to commute. Well, though the benefits for not for all, but surely makes life easier for many, so leverage it!
Paternity Leave in New Zealand: In April 2015, the paid paternity leave in New Zealand was increased from 14 to 16 weeks, which will eventually increase to 18 weeks from April 2016. Fathers play an equally important role in the initial days of bonding an caring for an infant as the mother does. So, a baby will see a dad with a smiling face rather than a stressed one during this period. Well, you might not miss your baby as much after this and be a helping hand to the mother, yet this doesn’t let you miss work either ;)!
A Hi-Fi to these Indian Companies and many others joining.
Well, coming to the Indian context, there is a wide range of grievances, which employees have. Starting from commute, working hours, late night shifts and much more. There are Indian forms, who have taken employee-friendly decisions to cater to some of these issues within their own limitations. Let’s look at a few examples:
Phillips: If you do not find a parking, you can head home and start working. They believe it is faster to work from home than searching for parking. You can reach office anytime between 8 am and 1 pm. So, you can choose to start once you know the roads will be less crowded.
A reputed firm in Bangalore has decided to start their cabs back home at 4 pm instead of 4.30 pm. This half an hour time saves employees from reaching home at 8 pm through the harrowing traffic conditions.
Many companies like PwC and others are moving to employee-friendly locations, which are in less crowded areas and easier to reach.
Companies like SAP Labs in Bangalore have a policy of ‘come and leave when you want’, where they believe that efficiency is not related to the number of working hours rather it is related to output produces.
Other firms in Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi have flexi working hours based on traffic conditions and other work related contingencies. KPMG allows their employees to ‘work from anywhere’ including home, client locations and others as long as the deliverables are in place.
Major firms like Microsoft, Infosys have their own transport system, including buses, cabs, and cycles, which helps employees to avoid the hassle of driving through traffic and saves time. Other companies like AmEx encourages and arranges for employees to take car-free ride on Tuesday or the shared car pool. There are many more such examples of steps taken by employers to ease employees of the stressful traffic conditions in India.
Not only related to traffic, there are different other internal and external employee-friendly initiatives taken by employers, which makes the workplace a healthy and fun place for employees, eventually putting a smile on their faces at the end of the day.
These are just a few examples and we have a long way to go. We expect a lot more and feel that employers can and should do a lot more. Well, this difference and discretion will always be there. But, small steps towards improvement and employee care can be a big leap for gaining employee trust and support.
If you see your employer taking care of you, your health and your happiness, you wouldn’t mind ‘stretching a bit’ whenever required. Would you?
Note: Image used in this post is only for representational purpose.
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