Ever heard of work-life balance? Most employees complain of not getting enough – due to incompetent management, inefficient task management, and a bevy of other factors. This leads to unnecessary overtime, burnout, Quiet Quitting, and even the Great Resignation during the pandemic. But with firms understanding that a healthy workplace will always be the best way to attract top talent, one company has gone above and beyond in promoting this balance. Yes, an Indian IT firm called SoftGrid computers forces its employees to log off their computers once their employees’ shift times are over.
The company’s act is growing a lot of traction on the professional career site LinkedIn. According to employees, the computers show a black screen as well as a warning once business hours are over. This blocks all outside communication, such as emails and calls, after the time is up. The post also illustrates the prioritization of health – both physical and mental. This makes sense in a work-centric culture like India where employees don’t have as much leverage when it comes to work-life balance.
As expected, reactions are overwhelmingly positive but still mixed. On one hand, you have both managers and employees greatly overjoyed by this culture shift. It’s surprising that even some entrepreneurs and business owners are also supportive of the movement. Nothing good comes out of burning one’s employees out, after all. Retraining new employees in a high employee turnover rate environment also takes up more resources than setting realistic expectations and solving systemic issues to keep your people happy enough to stay. With word-of-mouth travelling faster than ever, toxic companies could easily become places to avoid by competent prospects.
On the other hand, you have valid counterarguments as well. It varies from industry to industry, as understandably some need 24/7 support and attention. This applies especially to essential services that cannot be interrupted, delayed, or cancelled. Also, this may possibly remove the opportunities to earn more via overtime which could be what is keeping some employees afloat in these financially-challenging times. Among other reasons, you also have those who are truly passionate about their career and don’t mind spending extended hours to achieve a certain result. People should be mature enough to take care of themselves and know when to rest instead of being forced to. Also, some employees are also maliciously inefficient with their task progression.
These points also carry significant weight as they come from a realistic point of view. The debates in the comments sections of these posts are quite intriguing, and we could all learn a thing or two from these discussions.
As such, there should be a middle ground that can be achieved to at least be logically reasonable to all parties involved. What’s important is that both sides maintain transparency, fairness, and additional compensation or resources are provided when the situation calls for it. There needs to be a healthy avenue of discourse so that both employees and employers don’t end up playing the blame game – especially when expectations are set and managed.
What do you think of this? Let us know!
