Companies ask employees in Delhi to work from home
Heavy downpour in Delhi-NCR pushed many localities into waist-deep water, throwing normal life out of gear over the past few days
Delhi floods expose petty political blame-games, administrative lacuna
New Delhi Many companies in the National Capital Region have asked employees to work from home amid massive traffic snarls due to waterlogging and flooding in and around Delhi.
Heavy downpour in Delhi and its neighbouring states, and record levels of water in the Yamuna, have pushed many localities into waist-deep water, throwing normal life out of gear over the past few days. Ankit Agrawal, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Insurance Dekho, which has implemented flexible working options for employees, said, "Understanding the challenges faced by our workforce, we have implemented work from home or flexible work options to ensure employees' convenience and uninterrupted productivity, while keeping them safe."
Market watchers pointed out that while flexi work options were put in place at the onset of the pandemic, some tech companies continue to allow staff to operate in hybrid mode even now. Rohit Kataria, chief sales and strategic officer (CSSO) of Echelon Edge Pvt Ltd, said, "Hybrid work model is successful, especially in places like Delhi-NCR where chaotic traffic is common.
Amid an advisory due to rising water levels across the city, working from home is the best option for employees and employers alike." Several business leaders expressed concerns over the infrastructure in the national capital. Work flexibility and remote working should not be mixed with poor infrastructure, CEO of Gurugram-based field services management company Field Web, Amit Dhawan, said.
“Modern businesses believe in giving flexibility to their teams for encouraging an ownership mindset. Having said that, one should not conflate work flexibility and remote working scenarios with shoddy city/local administration and poorly managed infrastructure that compel individuals to work from home," he said.
Sumit Sabharwal, CEO of TeamLease HR tech, said responsible organisations prioritise employee safety, hence facilitating work from home in extreme weather conditions is a wise decision. “Temporarily transitioning to work from home shouldn't cause any dip in productivity if companies are already managing their HR, sales, marketing, and other operations through cloud-hosted, SaaS-based platforms," he said. Jayati Pardhy, head HR of payroll solutions platform Keka HR, agreed.
