Tag: WFH

Govt allows work from home for maximum one year but conditions apply

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The government has laid out a work from home (WFH) policy and as per the guidelines, WFH is now allowed for a maximum period of one year in a special economic zone unit and can be extended to 50 percent of total employees, including contractual employees.

The Department of Commerce has notified a new rule 43A for WFH in Special Economic Zones Rules, 2006.

The notification was issued after the industry demanded making provisions for a countrywide uniform WFH policy across all Special Economic Zones (SEZs).

Also Read | What ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt has to say on WFH-back to office debate

The new rule provides work from home for a certain category of employees of a unit in SEZ. These include:

• IT/ITeS SEZ units
• Who are temporarily incapacitated
• Who are travelling
• Who are working offsite

Also Read | As work from home nears end, commercial real estate is back with a bang

The government’s statement said that there is flexibility granted to the Development Commissioner (DC) of SEZs to approve a higher number of employees (more than 50 percent) for any bonafide reasons to be recorded in writing.

“In respect of SEZ units whose employees are already working from home, the notification has provided a transition period of 90 days to seek approval,” it said.

“SEZ Units will provide equipment and secured connectivity for the purpose of WFH to perform authorised operations of the units and the permission to take out the equipment is co-terminus with the permission granted to an employee,” the ministry said.

(With PTI inputs)

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Professionals in India ready to accept lower salary for better work-life balance, finds report

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Almost 86 percent of professionals in India will be looking for a new career prospect in the duration of the next six months, a report by professional recruitment services firm Michael Page stated. This comes as offices across the country gear up to open after two years of work from home.

However, the report also finds out that monetary benefits are no longer the only incentives professionals are looking for. 61 percent of the respondents in India are willing to accept a lower salary and forgo pay hikes and/or promotions. After wading through a health crisis, professionals now yearn for a better work-life balance and their overall well-being.

“Individuals are placing increased importance on company culture, sense of purpose, and leadership ahead of company brands and promotions. Organisations that have great company culture will likely experience a competitive advantage,” said, Nicolas Dumoulin, senior managing director, Michael Page India and Thailand.

Also Read: It is a job seekers’ market, says Vice President of Teamlease Services

With social awakeness, companies can no longer effectively attract & retain talent without a clear Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) policy. Respondents said that they are looking for better work-life balance & overall well-being. A rise in temporary work has been recorded. Many tech professionals prefer contracting roles offering interesting projects & flexibility.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Women’s Day: Hybrid work model an opportunity to promote equality, inclusiveness

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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There is always a need for more participation by women across the board, be it a family budget or the financial markets. Is it any different in the markets? It’s time to break the bias and encourage more women to consider investing.

How to make that possible? By way of more awareness and financial education.

That is a message from Koel Ghosh, Regional Head-South Asia for S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI), on International Women’s Day.

“There is often a bias associated with women and their abilities in managing money… The reservation is primarily driven by a lack of confidence and a negative stereotype questioning their capability to participate,” Ghosh said in an interview to CNBCTV18.com.

Her remarks come days after Madhabi Puri Buch took charge as Chairperson of SEBI, becoming the first woman to head the market regulator. Buch is also the first person from the private sector to head one of the most important institutions in the financial market.

According to Ghosh, the pandemic has been a litmus test when it comes to testing women’s resilience and multitasking abilities, and they have come out shining. However, a lot needs to be done when it comes to ensuring and promoting gender equality, she said. “There is scope to create a balance among industries to ensure even representation across organisations.”

“For some women, the pandemic was a challenge where they succumbed to the pressures of managing their personal front and could not continue their professional pursuits. These are areas that require attention and if organisations can facilitate support to such cases, there is more room for such professionals to grow… The world today is acknowledging and encouraging diversity and the opportunities thereby are limitless,” said Ghosh.

She believes that though the financial markets have witnessed few inspirational female role models, there still is plenty of room to accommodate and promote female leadership in this area.

Has COVID aided in breaking the stereotype?

The pandemic, in Ghosh’s view, has opened up the hybrid work environment, which she sees as a huge opportunity for women to avail themselves flexibility. It should also enable organisations to recruit and retain women in the workforce, she said.

Ghosh believes that the shift to the new normal brought about by the pandemic, though detrimental in many ways, offers more opportunities to women to continue their professional journey without setbacks.

“During the COVID crisis, the common feedback was that women were burdened with childcare and homecare duties… However, many organisations adopted supportive policies to tackle the situation in the new normal. The change in stance by many organisations promoted more confidence in the women workforce to continue with their careers,” she said.

She believes that now is a great time “just as any” for women to enter the financial world, which to her is no different.

“Women today need to ignore the negative stereotyping and focus on building skill and claiming the acknowledgement for the successful work done. Uplifting other colleagues along the way ensures building more confidence that influences others and breaks all biases,” said Ghosh, who educates and advocates for passive investing — a style of investing for long-term investors.

Recent times like any crisis create uncertainty in financial markets, Ghosh said. “India experienced a significant shift from being almost a purely active market, with minimal concentrated passive interest, to a boom in passive assets and the number of passive products,” she said.

Indian equity benchmarks are currently about 14 percent below their all-time highs, clocked in October 2021. This is at a time when heightened geopolitical uncertainty, fuelled by the Russia-Ukraine war, and rising crude oil rates have rattled global financial markets. Concerns about faster-and-more-aggressive hikes in key rates from pandemic lows amid stretched equity valuations had already hurt investor sentiment.

A CA, Ghosh has played many roles within the financial services space. She joined S&P DJI in 2009, having begun her career in the mutual fund industry in 2002.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Top hedge fund manager warns against WFH, especially for young employees; here’s why

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Working from home is a detriment to future career progress, especially for new employees, warned Ken Griffin, the manager and CEO of Citadel LLC, a multinational hedge fund and the largest market maker in the US.
He warned that working from home leads to giving up on crucial experiences that are needed later in one’s career. “If you are early in your career, you are making a grave mistake not being back at work,” Griffin said Monday during a conversation with Bloomberg’s Erik Schatzker at the Economic Club of Chicago.

“It’s incredibly difficult to have the managerial experiences and interpersonal experiences that you need to have to take your career forward in a work-remotely environment.”

“So for our youngest members of our workforce, I’m gravely concerned that the loss of early career development opportunities is going to cost us dearly over the decades to come,” he said.

Companies are slowly calling their employees back to the office to either start working full-time from the office or to shift to a hybrid mode of working. However, the resurgence of cases caused by the Delta variant has halted plans to return to offices.

Companies that have still gone through with employees returning to office have instead faced elevated turnover rates. Many have taken to call these elevated attrition rates the ‘Great Resignation’.

Read More | Work From Home Causes Fewer Emissions, Hybrid Working May Be Worst For Environment: Study

Griffin suggests that businesses are in fear of being persecuted for asking their employees to “go back to work”. “If you talk to other CEOs, they live in fear of how we’ll be publicly persecuted from delivering the straightforward message: It’s time to go back to work,” he said.

“We need it for our government workers, we need it for our corporate leaders,” he said. “We as a country, it’s time to get back at it.” While Griffin remains a staunch supporter of calling everyone back to the office for work, the actual effects of working from home on the workforce are complicated and nuanced. With the world shifting to WFH models almost overnight in the light of the restrictions of the pandemic, companies raced to find out what this could mean for their bottom line. Research into productivity, motivation, burnout and other factors were undertaken by researchers, analysts and companies alike.

Read More | Has The Work-From-Home Honeymoon Ended?

But instead of clarity, research so far has only provided the answer that the question of WFH or WFO is more complicated than one would imagine. Advocates of WFH models highlight increased productivity, less time wasted on commutes, better work-life balance due to having more time, the flexibility of managing work commitments with other responsibilities, less time wasted on idle chit-chat in the office as benefits of working from home.

On the flip side, detractors point out that longer working hours, lack of collaboration and creativity, and lack of social interaction with work colleagues as major hurdles.

Read More | Work-From-Home Does Not Mean End Of Workplace Sexual Harassment ‘

While research shows that productivity does indeed increase as a result of working from home, many also acknowledge the fact that the true measure of how successful a WFH model is dependent on the trust that an organisation has in its employees as well as the general line of work for employees. Knowledge workers seem to enjoy greater benefits from WFH models, and the importance of collaboration and social osmosis is also questioned in such cases.

With the possibility of COVID-19 turning into an endemic as vaccination rates increase, companies will need to figure out solutions that serve them and their employees the best, with perhaps flexibility in working arrangements becoming the perfect middle ground for both sides.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Why work from home is better for environment than traditional models?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Working from home can cut carbon emissions when compared to traditional working models from offices or even hybrid workspace models, according to a study by the Carbon Trust and Vodafone Institute for Society and Communications.

While working from home had its own associated carbon costs, particularly for cooling and heating needs, along with the electricity needed to run equipment for working, these costs were offset by other savings, the study said.

The study added that employees who were working from home were saving carbon emissions on daily commutes, and also by reducing the carbon emissions generated by offices premises based on their energy sources.

“Our analysis shows that homeworking saves carbon emissions on average over the year in all six countries analysed,” stated the study.

Also Read: Work from home causes fewer emissions, says study

The study assessed the impact of working from home on the environment in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the Czech Republic over a year. Germany had the greatest potential of carbon savings from a fully work-from-home model where applicable by saving 12 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions a year (MtCO2e/year). Czech Republic had the lowest total carbon savings potential at 0.15 MtCO2e/year.

“Office-related savings are particularly greater in countries where buildings are inefficient. For example, we found that in Italy the carbon savings potential is greater than in Sweden. Italy’s office building stock is less energy efficient and the country’s heating system heavily relies on high-emitting sources of energy such as gas. On the contrary, Sweden’s savings potential is much less significant given the more efficient building stock, a less carbon-intensive grid and the presence of district heating,” stated the study.

The study found that teleworkers were able to save anywhere from 75 kg CO2 emissions a year to 876 kg CO2 emissions a year per worker. German teleworkers had the highest consumption of domestic energy emissions due to working from home at 727 kgCO2e/year per teleworker but still saved 663 kgCO2e/year because of carbon emissions saved through avoiding commuting and office-related emissions.

“In all countries, the potential annual carbon savings from avoided commuting and avoided office emissions overall outweigh the individual’s annual additional domestic emissions, resulting in a net annual carbon saving,” added the study.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

HSBC Holdings manager suffers heart attack, his post on dangers of overwork goes viral

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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As millions of people work from home amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a recent viral post on LinkedIn showcased the dangers of overworking even while not being in a regular office set up. Jonny Frostick’s viral LinkedIn post, which has been viewed over 8 million times, talks about his experience of getting a heart attack while working.

The 45-year old HSBC Holdings contractor said that his first thoughts as he realised he was suffering a heart attack, were of his impending meeting with his manager the next day. Next on his mind as he suffered from the near-death experience were funding for his project, his will, and then his wife.

Jonny Frostick is one among many of employed in the fast-paced and often highly-stressful world of financial services, where the motto often is ‘work it till you collapse’. Frostick is a contractor overseeing more than 20 employees and handles regulatory data projects from HSBC Holdings Plc.

The long work hours and stress levels of finance employees have not been minimized even as the work culture has shifted to working from home. If anything, the move has destroyed what precious little equilibrium many workers had established between work-life and home-life. This has led to people working longer hours, poor work hygiene and generally elevated levels of stress and anxiety.

“Whereas before I would finish sensibly anywhere between five and half six, I’d be finding myself there on a Friday at 8 o’clock at night exhausted, thinking I need to prep up something for Monday and I haven’t got time and I started then to actually work weekends,” Frostick on LinkedIn. “That’s my responsibility. I think that was probably for me where it was those blurring of boundaries.

This phenomenon is not limited only to employees in the financial services sector either. A study last year by the Martec group showed that there was a widespread decline in mental health, lowering job satisfaction, lowered job motivation, and increased stress levels of employees working from home across various industries. Work hours have also increased and there is a decline in the number of leaves being approved for workers as well, according to a different study by Your Amigos Foundation.

Frostick said he and his colleagues spent a disproportionate amount of time on Zoom calls and workdays stretched up to to 12 hours.

The added stress of working from home due to a pandemic has only contributed to a chronic problem shared by many workers across the world. The financial services industry is particularly notorious in this regard, as research has shown that there is a significantly high level of stress amongst workers in the sector especially those in top-level positions.

Frostick like many other working professionals wants to highlight the current work culture and the ‘new normal’ of work that has been influenced by the pandemic. According to Frostick the heart attack kind condition can happen with anybody and that needs to be changed.

His message has received over 2 lakh likes and tens of thousands of comments on LinkedIn.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Employee headcount increases in Delhi-NCR offices, not so much in Mumbai yet: Report

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Almost a year ago employers cutting across industries in India instructed their employees to work from home due to the novel coronavirus that wreaked havoc not just here but all over the world. However, now with the vaccination drive underway and the situation comparatively under control, office spaces have started filling up. The Economic Times reported that top office-space operators and co-working companies were reporting an occupancy ranging between 10-35 percent across India in what could be described as the beginning of a post-COVID era.

It said that IT hubs such as Bengaluru and Hyderabad still have a large number of employees working from home and hence they were behind the national average of people now operating from their offices. But offices in the national capital region (NCR) are showing increased numbers.

The rising numbers in the NCR could also be attributed to the continuous fall in covid infections. Delhi, for example, recorded only 145 infections and two deaths on Sunday. Authorities have hinted that they are open to lifting more restrictions in the weeks to follow.

The case is not the same with Mumbai, though. The maximum city, according to the report, is still showing low numbers because employers continue to discourage workers from using the local transport, partly due to the recent rise in cases. The city’s office occupancy is still hovering around 10-15 percent, says the report. Maharashtra on Monday recorded over 5,200 cases. As part of its measures to contain the spread of the virus, the state government has also restricted the employee headcount in offices at 30 percent.

SK Sayal, whole-time director and CEO, Bharti Realty Limited told ET the last two months had seen an increase in occupancy. The office operators also say that the numbers are expected to rise significantly once the vaccination drive gathers steam.

According to the report, the spaces were occupied in the range of 15-20 percent until December. They have, however, shown marked increases since then, going up to 20-25 percent in some cases.

Neetish Sarda, the founder of Smartworks, says the occupancy in Hyderabad and Bengaluru was yet to reach 25 percent but in Kolkata and Delhi-NCR it had already gone past 35 percent, it reported.

Most companies, including MNCs, experts say will start focussing on increasing headcount in offices from March onwards. A lot also depends on where the pandemic is headed in the country. India, last week, recorded over 100,000 cases in a week after five weeks. A new wave of the virus in the country could once again delay the return of employees to offices.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Delhi govt issues work-from-home orders for 50% of its non-essential services employees

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Delhi government on Saturday issued work-from-home orders for 50 per cent of its employees associated with non-essential services and advised private establishments to follow the practice as far as possible amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in the national capital.

Delhi chief secretary and DDMA executive committee chairman Vijay Dev, in an order, said all Delhi government offices, autonomous bodies, public sector undertakings, corporations, local bodies will function with officers of grade-one level or equivalent and above to the extent of 100 per cent.

“The remaining staff will attend up to 50 per cent as per requirement to be assessed by heads of the departments concerned (remaining 50 per cent of the staff will work from home) till December 31, 2020, or till further orders whichever is earlier,” stated the DDMA order.

Private offices are advised to stagger the office timings and also presence and quantum of staff with an objective to reduce the number of employees attending office at the same time. They are further advised to follow the practice of work from home as for as possible, it said.

In a tweet, Delhi Revenue minister Kailash Gahlot said, “DDMA has decided to reduce number of government employees attending office at the same time, it has been decided that in respect of officials lower than Grade 1, only 50% of the strength shall attend office. Private offices are also advised to stagger timings & presence of staff.”

The proposal from the Delhi government’s revenue department to reduce presence of non-essential services staff in offices to 50 per cent was sent to the Lt Governor on Friday who is also chairman of Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) for approval, Gahlot said.

L-G Anil Baijal on Saturday approved the proposal.

“The heads of departments will decide about how to implement it according to the requirement of staff at their disposal,” Gahlot told PTI.

According to officials, the move, applicable to all Delhi government employees except grade-one and above officers, aims to bring down a number of non-essential services staff in the offices in view of COVID-19 pandemic.

The proposal was made in line with an order of Union Ministry of Home Affairs on November 25 for considering steps to reduce the number of employees in government offices through a various measure to ensure social distancing, an official said.

The proposal does not cover departments concerned with essential services, including health, police, home guards and civil defence, district administrations, fire, electricity and water,  municipal services among others, the officer said.

However, other Delhi government offices, autonomous bodies, public sector units, corporations and local bodies, associated with non-essential services, are covered by the proposal.

The heads of departments and agencies concerned will prepare a schedule for assigning office timings and employees to be required for work purpose, the officer said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow