Nandini Dias, railway activist and CEO of a media agency, has been urging private companies to opt for flexi office timings.
Responding to a request regarding implementation of staggered work timings to take the load off peak hours, the Indian Railways has made it clear that staggered timings can work only with participation of public and private companies. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, who was in the city on Saturday, said the government cannot implement staggered or flexi office timings on its own. Since the last year, Nandini Dias, railway activist and CEO of a media agency, has been urging private companies to opt for flexi office timings.
"For staggered office timings, public participation is key. Even if government offices change timings, it should suit the people. We also want the private sector to come forward and initiate staggered timings," Goyal told DNA.
The issue has acquired special focus given the large number of casualties on Mumbai's railway network. Between 2011 and 2017, there have been 5,218 deaths, mainly because people fell off overcrowded trains.
"So many of these deaths took place because the people were trying to reach their workplace on time. Most of them risk their lives to beat nothing more than a late mark, to ensure there is no penalties on their salary," said Nandini Dias, CEO of the Lodestar media agency. Dias had started a campaign titled 'WorkToLiveToWork' on January 18 last year.
"We targeted the campaign at CEOs, so that they realise that some of their policies are inadvertently playing a role in making people chose their livelihood over their lives. We have to try saving lives. Over the year we reached several Mumbai-based CEOs and several companies' HR heads," she said.
While studying this trend, they realised that in many offices, less than 1 per cent of people were actually on flexi timings, but even these weren't monitored. Dias asked for a database where one can see the percentage of offices that have adopted flexi timing. "There are two kinds of hurdles: First, the HR heads who believe in the concept but are limited by their empowerment within the organisation. Or secondly, the CEOs who think that unless the staff is tightly controlled, productivity will suffer. These need to be addressed," she added.
THEY SAID IT
- Nandini Dias, CEO of Lodestar media agency, has said flexible work timings would take the load off peak hours.
- She has appealed to CEOs and HR heads to adopt flexible timings.
- The Railways too has said it will work only if the private enterprises take up the project seriously
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