IT firms allow staff to work from home

Leading from the front are small firms that rely on employees innovative skills.

Working out of home is catching on. This is particularly so among global IT firms and smaller Indian firms which have to rely heavily on the innovative skills of their employees. Large Indian IT firms, which are leaders in many areas, are however going slow on this front.

Data moves at the speed of light on the virtual information highway but the situation on the ground is another matter. "Commuting time is dictating that more and more firms find a way around it by allowing their staff to work from home," says an engineer who develops embedded software at one of the top 10 global IT firms.

"Tele-conferencing allows us to stay in touch 24/7. Engineers from different parts of the world working on different aspects of a project come together to discuss matters in cyberspace," he adds. All you need to do is call a given number at a pre-determined time and bingo! Distances vanish and time gets adjusted.

Some firms even allow working from home proactively, without being compelled to do so. Axiom Consulting gives employees the freedom not to come to office even when working on a project that requires peer interaction, if it helps employees develop their creativity.

"We have a flexible environment and working out of home is part of our policy. It is usually for periods which run from a few days to a few weeks," says Axiom's CEO, Satya Rao.

This could take the form of paternal leave, leave on health grounds, or other personal reasons. The key is to ensure accountability when someone is not around to supervise. The staffer at work at home ensures this by keeping supervisors and team members informed of work in progress.

"Women who cannot be dispensed with are often given the freedom to work from home if the family requires them there. This is often done if a woman wants maternity leave beyond the legally prescribed 90 days," says Srinivas Rao Kandula, director-HR, Sasken. The key here is how badly the firm wants the staffer to stay on.

'Telecommuting', a new experiment, is being run as a pilot by Wipro Technologies for the past eight months. "It is being tried in seven to eight offices of Wipro," says Joseph John, the firm's general manager, talent engagement and development.

"Now, 20 persons work from home. They have to come to office about twice a week for meetings. We expect about 5 per cent of our employees to work from home in three to five years," says John.

So far Wipro has found the results encouraging. It is convenient to employees and allows the company to save on infrastructure costs.

But Wipro will restrict this facility mostly to people who have four or five years' experience. Software major Infosys, meanwhile, hasn't spelt out its policy. It seems that this is generally not allowed, but company sources say that if absolutely required by an individual, the firm may consider it.

MindTree Consulting has put in place a variant. It has sought to create a home at the workplace without letting people work out of home.

MindTree allows women employees who are new mothers to bring their babies to office and work from a sort of 'babies' day out' environment. It is a room where soft toys share space with computers, with mothers working next to their babies.

Allowing staff to routinely work out of home can reduce establishment costs but invariably adds to telecom costs. Also, issues of data security can become critical. Besides, staff need to meet face to face and get to know each other to exchange ideas.

Some of the best innovations are supposed to have come at the office water cooler, not the work station. So the trend is one of greater flexibility in letting staff work out of home, but not permanently.