Swati Rai
Richard Branson has famously remarked “Take care of your employees and they’ll take care of your business”. This, in the current situation, is being taken a notch higher by India Inc. in so far as extending this care and privilege to the employees’ families in letter and in spirit.
Modern day work and life can be at logger-heads with each other. With the increasing work pressure, 24x7 work routine and lesser opportunities to de-stress, there is hardly any window left to spend quality time with one’s near and dear ones to connect, communicate and bond.
It is with this intention that well-meaning companies are coming forward to carve organised and impromptu programmes, where families of the employees can join them in office and spend some quality time. But apart from physically spending time together, there are other ways to make the employees’ family their own.
Vishal Nagda, Head-Human Resource, Ozone Group, shares some of the measures in place in his company. In the Quit Smoking Challenge, we have involved best friends and family members of the participants to double the push and motivate the employee to actually quit a bad habit. Many employees had actually quit smoking after becoming a part of this initiative. “We received testimonials from their families thanking us on
the same”. There was also huge prize money and certificate given.
In ‘Celebrate With Family’, employees can avail a special leave to celebrate their birthday or anniversary with family members. Gift vouchers of Rs 25,000 and Rs 2,500 are also given to help them celebrate their special day. “We extend interest-free loans to deal with personal exigencies like medical, home renovation and school fees”, he adds. The company also provides scientific career counselling to employees’ children studying in
Classes IX to XII. “We also encourage children to be academically bright by providing education sponsorship to children holding top ranks in their respective school/college”, informs Nagda.
Talking about the significance of such an acknowledgement and appreciation of the employees’ families is an integral aspect of work-life balance. Subranshu Mohanty, Head of Human Resources, Everest Industries Ltd, shares his view on the role of the families in helping to maintain this balance. “Families are important in an employee’s life. Keeping this perspective in mind, we at Everest Industries have aligned our people’s policies by taking them closer to the family to extend the work-life balance equation. If a person is not able to maintain a balance, then his productivity goes down and as an employer one should make an effort to provide opportunities to employees to manage this.”
At a time when hiring trends are showing a downward trend and increasing flexi work options and automation are adding to the woes of the employees; employers are increasingly taking cognizance of this aspect of involving and reaching out to the families.
Inclusion and provision
At a time when nuclear families are a norm, the office space becomes a novel way for inclusion of all kinds. The idea of working together and achieving a work-life balance is gaining a new meaning at the workplace, as companies are now also accounting for benefits to the employees' families as part of a package, sound in intent and purpose. Such initiatives come at great cost to the company but it is worth the effort.
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