“This is about psychological contract and not strategy consulting,” says Mala Bali, vice-president of HR at HT Media Ltd, which also publishes Mint and Campaign. “We are talking about our people and our managers who are so involved and hands-on with their teams that even we in HR are there to really support and enable them. We don’t feel the need for an external employee assistance programme,” she adds.
Bali says that since people in HT Media work to different time slots, the company is conscious of offering varied working flexibility as the roles demand. This includes a selective sabbatical policy so that people can take time off to relax, unwind and pursue their individual passions. From this year, the company plans to make leave mandatory for all employees as part of one of its affirmative actions towards encouraging work-life balance.
Experts say that despite the growing recognition among companies in India of the importance of work-life balance, many are yet to buy into the criticality of its need. Such programmes are limited mostly to multinationals, which have policies on work-life that they replicate across geographies. Experts say that India is not yet ready—economic development is perceived as being more important than social well-being and people issues, they add.
The Icrier study shows that though the country’s rapid economic expansion has increased profits and employee incomes, it has also led to a rise in workplace stress and lifestyle diseases that few Indian companies have addressed. “Companies targeting employer of choice awards symbolically practise work-life balance,” says Ganesh Shermon, partner and head of human capital advisory service at KPMG India. “These are mostly information technology and new age companies. Many IT companies try hard to articulate such practices.”
Agrees Shveta Kumaria, head of operations at PPC Worldwide India, “For some companies, it is just a tick in the box as they are an MNC and it is part of their global policy requirements. They would rather go by the traditional group method of handling work-life balance, which is the training/workshop methodology.” Also, they do not recognize that not being able to prioritize work-life is as much an individual issue as it is a skills issue, and generic workshops are not an answer, Kumaria adds.
Increasing globalization and the resultant productivity pressures, which are further skewing the notions of productivity and efficiency, are in fact undermining progressive policies in the workplace. “Emerging forms of work, and the way in which work is organized within the workplace and beyond, has made work-life balance very difficult to maintain,” says J. John, editor of Labour File, a journal of labour and economic affairs. The structural nuances of work are embedded in corporate values and not in individuals, as one would like to believe. “In fact, notions of efficiency and an individual’s contribution to the organization get drilled right from the level of professional education.”