BENGALURU: In the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to the nation to reduce fuel consumption as part of austerity measures, a transition into work-from-home mode might turn out to be easier for the corporate sphere of Bengaluru. Unlike most of India’s other urban spaces, the city already has a large number of companies that operate under the hybrid model.
The setting up of the Yellow Line Metro corridor by Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) is, in this regard, of dual consequence. On the one hand, it has incentivised many companies in Electronics City to mandate working from office, while on the other hand, the innate independence from traditional fuel that the metro service enjoys offsets the concerns of travel to some extent.
Rama NS, an advisor at Electronic City Industries Association, said, “There are two prominent metro stations on the Yellow Line that serve commuters to Electronics City. Many companies are incentivising their employees to use the metro service by providing last-mile connectivity via shuttle services that ferry employees to and from their offices.”
According to Rama, while there is no standardisation across the board, multiple companies – especially technological companies – provide a hybrid model as optional.
“Some companies mandate two or three days of work-from-office while others mandate working from office throughout the week,” she said.
According to Rama, manufacturing companies in Electronics City, most of which are small-scale, cannot afford to provide a work-from-home option to their employees due to the nature of the work and operational exigencies.
It is also an erroneous notion to imagine the absence of technological companies beyond Electronics City. An employee who works at a tech company in Marathahalli said that his organisation was yet to acknowledge any intention to allow the work-from-home option.
“We have not been informed of the introduction of the work-from-home system. To my knowledge, only one company operating in our complex allows this option,” he said.
Another employee who works from Bengaluru for a Gurgaon-based non-profit organisation said that her work for the company had always been remote, and thus by definition, flexible, allowing her to not be as affected as many daily commuters in Bengaluru would be.
