Work from home burnout is real, so is productivity
While many techies decry lack of work-life balance, IT firms claim higher growth
Hyderabad: While many top IT companies have claimed time and again that ‘work from home’ (WFH) has helped them in improving productivity, employees from the sector have a different story to tell.
Several employees from the industry feel they have crossed the burnout stage and continue working fearing job loss. From working for 14 hours straight to emotional pressure from office and home to even space issues, techies are facing numerous problems with WFH becoming a norm.
“There is a huge amount of burnout for many, with several of them working continuously for 12-14 hours without any break. Being constrained at home without any scope for social interaction is taking a toll on emotional and physical well-being. In addition, many team leaders are pressurising their team members to provide results immediately,” says Kiran Chandra, president, Forum of IT Professionals.
Many IT employees have pointed towards restrained relationships with the spouse and family members due to extra working hours during work from home. When both spouses are working, it puts pressure on the children and elders of the family to take care of the household.
“Not just extra working hours, we also have a factor in the constraints of space and also lower levels of concentration when we are working from home. Most of the work, especially coding and software development, is done through collaboration, and now due to WFH we are forced to work in isolation which is also impacting our innovative skills and productivity. There is no work-life balance,” said a 28-year-old techie from Hyderabad.
The other side
Companies, however, have a different narrative. They claim the IT industry is the only sector that has not seen any negative impact of the pandemic and in fact, has seen a higher growth compared to other sectors.
Companies like HCL, Tech Mahindra and Infosys have reported no loss in productivity, according to various reports. HCL, in fact, has claimed that their employee productivity has gone up by 16-17 per cent. Nasscom reported that 95 percent of the IT workforce has transitioned to the WFH model and this has either increased productivity or left it unchanged.
“Our survey has found that companies have reported 90 per cent productivity during the WFH mode as employees are more focused towards work as it has cut down on their travel time. However, the work environment at home may not be conducive for many and that is why many are keen to return to office as and when the situation permits,” said Bharani K Aroll, president, Hyderabad Software Employees Association.
Echoing similar views, PurpleTalk co-founder and technology entrepreneur Ravi Korukonda informed that they had seen productivity increase for 70-80 per cent of employees. “The major issue of productivity is faced by employees who used to work in collaboration as that is missing in WFH mode. While a team that has been working for a long time together can work productively during WFH, newly formed teams will have issues,” he said.
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