Corporates find way out of traffic jam

Corporates find way out of traffic jam
Revise Office Timings To 7.30 am; Employees Find More Time For Family
The Times of India

Bangalore: Imagine waking up at the crack of dawn, rushing through your morning chores and reaching your office by 7.30 am with a smile. And, yes, employees are happy as they don’t get stuck in traffic jams. More importantly, they reach home early in the evening and spend some quality time with their families.

This is just what the corporates were looking for: fresh-as-daisy and contented employees at work.
Tormented by slow-moving traffic which rendered employees distressed and tired even before they stepped into office, Bangalore corporates have revised their office timings to beat the city’s infamous bumper-tobumper vehicular movement.

Biotech major Biocon Ltd has advanced its office hours from October, with the clock ticking for them from 7.30 am to 4 pm. UK-based retail giant Tesco’s Whitefield facility has re-scheduled its timings to 8.15 am-5.15 pm from mid-December, software behemoth TCS’s Whitefield facility to 8 am-5 pm from November, and Siemens’ Electronics City facility to 7.15 am-4.30 pm. Prior to this revamp, all of these companies were sticking to the predictable 9.30 am to 5.30 pm schedule.

Chinese telecom vendor Huawei Technologies, interestingly, has pushed forward its office hours at its Airport Road facility by an hour with the timings now scheduled from 10.30 am, a far cry from the peak-hour of 9.30 am.
Biocon’s HR head Gautam Reddy said employees were spending more than three hours to commute to and fro from the office every day. “Being a research firm, we want people to be as fresh as possible when they come in. Initially, there was some resistance as people found it early. But now they are enjoying it as they are getting a lot of time at home in the evening,” he said. “Now we have a bunch of contented employees, who have time to catch up with friends or go to a pub.”

J. Gilbert, an employee with Huawei Technologies, is happy too with his new office timings. “Now, there are no cases of employees coming late. And there cannot be any excuse now as the employees get to miss peak-hour traffic,” he said.

Tesco set up six employee teams to suggest ways to address the traffic issue. “And there was a huge positive response to a change in timing,” says Meena Ganesh, CEO of Tesco India. “Employees say they are saving up to 45 minutes of travel especially in the morning. People come in less stressed, and get more time with their families.”

TCS employee Aji George says productivity in the mornings has increased enormously. “We’re not so tired, and hence more focussed,” he says.

Traffic police too welcomed staggering of working hours by several companies to facilitate a free and safe ride for their employees on congested city roads. We have been recommending staggering of working hours to private companies mainly IT/BT sectors and schools, Traffic, DCP (East), M A Saleem said.

Smooth ride Other steps

Tesco provides magazines and newspapers in their commute vehicles. On some routes where there are lots of employees, Tesco has introduced buses instead of smaller vehicles to increase comfort. IBM encourages working from home in certain areas. Other companies are planning a similar initiative.