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Mumbai: For a few years, Neha Nipaney, an engineering graduate living in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh, found it difficult to take up job opportunities that required her to relocate to a metro as she had to take care of her mother who was unwell. Finally in June last year, the 26-year-old was employed by Airtel with an option of working from home.
For now, after her father, Neha is the only other contributing member of her family. “I feel empowered that I am working, earning and contributing to my family’s income. Empowerment starts from home. Everything changes when one is able to manage both home and work,” Neha told TOI. Equipped with a remote workstation, Neha, who is part of the service experience team of Airtel network, works from 9:30 am to 6:30 pm while also tending to her mother and other household matters.
The main barrier to pursuing career opportunities for many talented women in non-metro cities is relocation. At times, it’s the family that doesn’t allow them to explore jobs beyond the boundaries of their home town, and at other times they get married and move to a remote town. In addition to enabling ‘return to work’ where women come back after a career break, Airtel’s ‘Step-in’ programme is also designed for remote working professionals in non-metro cities to tap into niche talent pools.
Airtel chief people officer Amrita Padda said, “The pandemic has opened everybody’s mind to the possibility of remote working. Encouraged by our experience over the past few months, we are trying to identify more roles which could be done remotely. We have observed that productivity among women working remotely has increased significantly.”
Kanta Kumari, associate software development engineer at Publicis Sapient, also works remotely from Patna. This flexibility allows her to be with her family in a city where there aren’t too many opportunities to work in a tech company. Several companies are looking at remote work as an opportunity to tap into a diverse talent pool. However, there could be a sense of disconnect when physical interactions are limited. To bridge this gap, Publicis Sapient launched what it calls ‘Geo Circle’ events so that remote working individuals get to meet other team members without having to travel to the main head office or regional offices.
“Most of my interactions at work are either through emails or calls with my team members who work on the same project as I do, and with people who are part of my training sessions held online. While I enjoy our camaraderie, I don’t get to meet anyone face-to-face as they all live in different cities. As someone who joined Publicis Sapient not too long ago, I wanted an avenue where I could meet more people, form connections and experience what it was like to be a part of an organisation — essentially, I wanted to experience an office-based social life,” says Kanta.
Kanta finally got that opportunity at the Patna Geo Circle event. Publicis Sapient India MD Sanjay Menon said, “Our ‘Geo Circles’ initiative is where we take our leaders to our people. We create these micro communities in various different cities and are finding a lot of resonance with our people since they are now getting a better sense of the company. When you are working remotely, it becomes very difficult to gauge the culture of a company from the walls of your house, which is a very different physical context from being in a company. And your only mode of engagement to the company is a two-dimensional screen.”
Menon said the objective is to put flexibility in the hands of the people. “We have found a lot of currency in creating and engaging micro communities and ensuring that we are creating a sense of belongingness among pockets of people in places we may not have offices. It may not make as much sense to open offices everywhere, but it doesn’t take away from the need to engage with your people everywhere.”
The quintessential question was, how can culture grow in a fully remote world? “We felt that you cannot move from one model and have so many more offices mushrooming since even the population that has moved is a dynamic one. You may have someone who’s moved to their hometown today and a month from now may choose to come back to a larger city. So, how do we follow the footprint of our people but create these micro communities to empower them? In this endeavour, we have been creating these events or forums for our people to reconnect and come together with a sense of purpose,” said Menon.
Publicis Sapient has launched such ‘circles’ in 14 different cities already and is looking to scale that further.
Kanta said what she liked most about the Patna Geo Circle was how it was not a presentation-driven, one-sided conversation. “Besides the ice-breaker and team-building activities, everyone, including the leadership, shared candid experiences from their lives and work. It helped me get a glimpse into our culture, relate to the people, and understand how our work was essential to making an impact to society at large. It helped me get comfortable and share my experiences too,” said Kanta who is now looking forward to the next Geo Circle event.
For now, after her father, Neha is the only other contributing member of her family. “I feel empowered that I am working, earning and contributing to my family’s income. Empowerment starts from home. Everything changes when one is able to manage both home and work,” Neha told TOI. Equipped with a remote workstation, Neha, who is part of the service experience team of Airtel network, works from 9:30 am to 6:30 pm while also tending to her mother and other household matters.
The main barrier to pursuing career opportunities for many talented women in non-metro cities is relocation. At times, it’s the family that doesn’t allow them to explore jobs beyond the boundaries of their home town, and at other times they get married and move to a remote town. In addition to enabling ‘return to work’ where women come back after a career break, Airtel’s ‘Step-in’ programme is also designed for remote working professionals in non-metro cities to tap into niche talent pools.
Airtel chief people officer Amrita Padda said, “The pandemic has opened everybody’s mind to the possibility of remote working. Encouraged by our experience over the past few months, we are trying to identify more roles which could be done remotely. We have observed that productivity among women working remotely has increased significantly.”
Kanta Kumari, associate software development engineer at Publicis Sapient, also works remotely from Patna. This flexibility allows her to be with her family in a city where there aren’t too many opportunities to work in a tech company. Several companies are looking at remote work as an opportunity to tap into a diverse talent pool. However, there could be a sense of disconnect when physical interactions are limited. To bridge this gap, Publicis Sapient launched what it calls ‘Geo Circle’ events so that remote working individuals get to meet other team members without having to travel to the main head office or regional offices.
“Most of my interactions at work are either through emails or calls with my team members who work on the same project as I do, and with people who are part of my training sessions held online. While I enjoy our camaraderie, I don’t get to meet anyone face-to-face as they all live in different cities. As someone who joined Publicis Sapient not too long ago, I wanted an avenue where I could meet more people, form connections and experience what it was like to be a part of an organisation — essentially, I wanted to experience an office-based social life,” says Kanta.
Kanta finally got that opportunity at the Patna Geo Circle event. Publicis Sapient India MD Sanjay Menon said, “Our ‘Geo Circles’ initiative is where we take our leaders to our people. We create these micro communities in various different cities and are finding a lot of resonance with our people since they are now getting a better sense of the company. When you are working remotely, it becomes very difficult to gauge the culture of a company from the walls of your house, which is a very different physical context from being in a company. And your only mode of engagement to the company is a two-dimensional screen.”
Menon said the objective is to put flexibility in the hands of the people. “We have found a lot of currency in creating and engaging micro communities and ensuring that we are creating a sense of belongingness among pockets of people in places we may not have offices. It may not make as much sense to open offices everywhere, but it doesn’t take away from the need to engage with your people everywhere.”
The quintessential question was, how can culture grow in a fully remote world? “We felt that you cannot move from one model and have so many more offices mushrooming since even the population that has moved is a dynamic one. You may have someone who’s moved to their hometown today and a month from now may choose to come back to a larger city. So, how do we follow the footprint of our people but create these micro communities to empower them? In this endeavour, we have been creating these events or forums for our people to reconnect and come together with a sense of purpose,” said Menon.
Publicis Sapient has launched such ‘circles’ in 14 different cities already and is looking to scale that further.
Kanta said what she liked most about the Patna Geo Circle was how it was not a presentation-driven, one-sided conversation. “Besides the ice-breaker and team-building activities, everyone, including the leadership, shared candid experiences from their lives and work. It helped me get a glimpse into our culture, relate to the people, and understand how our work was essential to making an impact to society at large. It helped me get comfortable and share my experiences too,” said Kanta who is now looking forward to the next Geo Circle event.
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