How do Indian employees find their work-life balance?

When she was a teacher, my mother spent up to 10 hours away from home each day. After rushing through her household chores every morning, she'd make a dash for the local train on which she'd spend up to four hours commuting back and forth from our home in suburban Khar to her school in distant Ulhasnagar in the neighbouring Thane district. Although stressed about missing her train, once perched on a hard, wooden seat, she'd dedicate time to her hobby — embroidery. That was how she achieved 'work-life' balance — until then an unheard of phrase that has become the bane of human resource managers the world over in the last decade or so.

Fortunately for my mother, retirement brought with it a flush of time — time that she now uses to meditate, to do pranayam, to swim, to exercise, to teach English to the maid's kids, to post photos on Facebook and to watch movies and television.

While my mother's predicament was by no means unique — thousands spend long hours in excruciating conditions to reach their workplaces everyday in cities across India even today — our generation is hardly any better off when it comes to having disposable time to indulge in after hours activities. As workers across industries put in between 9-12 hour work days, take calls at the dinner table and work from home on weekends, the fatter pay cheques somehow don't seem justifiable compared to the stress- and hassle-free lives of the earlier generation. And with the constant pressure to be 'available' to reporting managers at all times, it is questionable how productive we really are.

The productivity debate is what prompted organisations in Sweden to switch to six-hour work days last month, allowing employees more time with family or to engage in other activities. Would a similar drive mean better work-life balance in India?

"What works well in one country might not in another," says Sheen Sunny Akkara, executive director of human resources at Nielsen India, which employs more than 3,000 people. "A legislation might work better than an organisational policy for such radical transformation."

A spokesperson for Hindustan Unilever (HUL), a mammoth FMCG organisation that employs nearly 18,000 people, says that finding balance starts with each employee identifying his/her "big rocks" i.e. "the non-negotiable in our lives — family, health, career, societal contribution, etc" and how one makes these big rocks co-exist. HUL's approach in enabling this, says the spokesperson, is to work with these life needs by allowing flexible timings, flexible office locations to work from, career breaks ranging from 6 months to 5 years and a second careers program.

What matters, says Milind Apte, chief people officer at Godrej Properties, is a stress-free transition from the personal to the professional. "It's not about X number of hours spent at work or at home or the number of leaves... it's about having the flexibility to be where one needs to be when required," says Apte. While agreeing that stretched working hours have become all too common a norm and even a habit for many, Apte points out that Godrej's policies cater to employees of three different generations — Baby Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y. So apart from flexible hours and work-from-home options, for the younger employees, "Godrej Properties supports employees who want to take time off work and participate in the Teach for India campaign. We also have a Brighter Giving initiative where we help employees who want to contribute to society, find a cause that can benefit from their skills."

Apte's colleague and head of group human resources and corporate services at Godrej Industries Limited and Associate Companies Sumit Mitra feels that there is no one-size that fits all. "We don't subscribe to following strict working hours," says Mitra. "We believe that if stretch goals are met, then there is no need to regulate working hours. We have sufficient flexibility built into our policies to enable our team members to thrive at work."

So for instance, he points out, that Godrej has altered its leave policies. "Sick leave is now uncapped and trust-based because we don't believe that you can put a number to falling ill. Godrejites can avail of it on a 'need to' basis," says Mitra adding that when employees apply for leave, then weekends and official holidays that fall during the period of leave applied for are not counted as leave. "We strongly encourage our team members to explore their 'whole selves' because we believe that passionate and rounded individuals make for better team members."

But Akkara points out that Indians are very bad leave-users "due to the perception of people who do not take leave as hard-workers. A cultural mind shift will help drive work and personal efficiency, multi-tasking and the ability to say no as part of India work ethos".

He says that fewer work days create time pressure to make employees more productive. "It is similar to the concept of shorter formats of cricket — bringing out the best from players who think out of the box to score runs and take wickets, thereby pushing the limits of scoring records. However, we also need to be wary of the client organisations we work with and adapt and staff accordingly."