Home-office: bridge the gap

Home-office: bridge the gap
As Bangalore’s traffic woes get increasingly worse, IT companies are looking at innovative solutions
The Times of India

OUR IT guys aren’t just good at cracking the world’s software solutions, they come up with brainy ways to handle Bangalore’s crazy traffic congestion. From staggering timings to car pooling, you’d imagine they’ve done it all. But no, here’s the latest — a software company recently put in an ad asking software professionals from specific localities to apply for vacancies.

The ad last week by MindTree Consulting in Global Village off Mysore Road asks software engineers, “Live in Malleswaram, Vijayanagar, Basavanagudi or Padmanabhanagar?” And says they should be working at the company’s West Campus at the Global Village. It says this is “yet another big opportunity to add value to your life,” and that you can save up to three hours of your daily commute. Other localities mentioned are Rajarajeshwari, Jayanagar and Banashankari. The ad even has a map that shows how close these areas are to the company’s location.

Sanjay Shelvankar, general manager and head, talent acquisition team, explains that it really saves employees a lot of time otherwise wasted in traffic snarls. “For example, if you were travelling from CV Raman Nagar, you’d take an hour at least. But if you live close by, like in Katriguppe or Banashankari III Stage, it takes less than 15 minutes.” Shelvankar himself lives in Girinagar and takes just 12 minutes. “There’s just one signal light at Rajarajeshwari Nagar and then a free left you can breeze through. Many senior colleagues have bought houses in this area.”

Shelvankar says the ad appeals to those who don’t want to commute. There is a significant number of potential employees in these localities. “They are residential, upper and upper-middle class areas and there are many software professionals available there.” A similar ad had been inserted two years ago, and had helped in getting the target professionals. The success will be repeated with this ad, he says.

Other companies have even asked employees to shift closer to their location. Says Shirley Aaron, manager, corporate communications, Fiorano, at ITPL, “Our company has asked employees to look for accommodation around ITPL. And if it takes in new developers, it provides accommodation for them around ITPL.”

Also, many IT companies in ITPL and Electronics City have been staggering timings to avoid rush hour. Naveen, working at ITPL says, his company has changed timings from 8.30-5.30 to 8-5. So employees come in by 7.45 am. Leaving by 5 pm means they get a headstart over others on the road. At Electronics City, there’s one company that starts by 7 am.

And there’s car pooling. Navratan Kataria, an engineer in energy systems, decided to do something about all the fuel wasted on commuting and spread the word about carpooling. “Now we have 300 members from different companies carpooling. Some 70-80 percent of them are software professionals. They come from different corners of Bangalore — Jalahalli, Airport Road, JP Nagar, Jayanagar, RT Nagar and reach ITPL and Electronics City, working at companies like IBM, Oracle, Infosys and others.”

Want quality of life? Bangalore’s techies tell you how.