For tech-savvy youth, home’s the new office

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Tech tonic is perking up the work culture. A recent survey by ASSOCHAM says that more than half the employees at Indian companies prefer to do office work through gadgets like smartphones, iPads and tablets at home.

Majority of the respondents said they do not need to stay in office to be productive, as they carry their electronic devices to remain accessible to colleagues and clients.
Young professionals across industries, especially in media, public relations and human resources agree.
Shubhanshi Gupta, a senior analyst working with Ernst and Young, India says, “The concept of virtual workplace has been introduced in India but remains in a nascent stage. Implementation of ‘work from home’ practice requires a strong drive for firm-wide implementation and seamless infrastructure for effective execution. Not all business hubs have requisite logistics (high speed Internet, power backup, access to high-end gadgets). So, no matter how high the drive to take work off the ‘established office space’ be, loopholes at both ends deter widespread adoption of the model.”
Rajat Malhotra, an IT professional says, “Flexibility at workplace is important. A professional working mostly independently may benefit immensely by using one of these gadgets. But for people working as a team involving continuous interface with others, solving an issue may turn out to be more time-consuming if each member starts working from home. Each job has a different requirement and applicability of a desired technology must be understood before the same is adopted.”
Mehak Awatramani, a PR consultant with a leading firm says, “Coming to office is redundant if one has a cellphone, laptop and high speed Internet connection at home. Skype and G-talk allows one to stay connected with teammates 24x7. Meetings can be held through video conferencing. Coming to office regularly makes no sense so far as you are delivering work from home,” she says.
Not all agree with these arguments though. Some feel the office space is necessary to ensure work discipline and healthy work relationships.
“While iPads and iPhones do offer one the luxury of accessing information from anywhere, it still cannot replicate the work culture of your office. Outside one’s office, one can never feel the gravity or the urgency of the work at hand. What is more, a team will go through terrible phases of co-ordination as interpersonal dynamics is a very important part of getting the work done in the least possible time and these gadgets cannot convey that,” says Karthik Sinha, a mediaperson.