"HR (human resource) policy in Bangladesh has no such law only for women. Different companies adopt their own policies according to their needs. Only foreign companies demonstrate few policies which now benefit a woman employee and which in turn helps a woman give her best," says Monir Hossain, Head of HR, Bangla Trac Ltd.
Sharmin Sarwar, a marketing Manager of a renowned company, feels it as a tough act. She says: "Spouses should understand that it is a juggling act for women and that they have to be supportive. Working women face a lot of domestic hiccups and often have to make a tough decision where they have to work or stay home. HR policies in their favour would help them go a long way and they don't have to quit their job".
Flextime is a scheduling arrangement that permits variations in an employee's starting and departure times, but does not change the total number of hours worked in a week. In fact, flextime may be applied to full-time and part-time positions. Staff may request a flextime arrangement, or managers may restructure work schedules to create flextime opportunities. As with all formal flexible work arrangements, flextime schedules must be approved in advance by the department.
The notion of flexible work arrangements explain letting employees work where they want and how they want. This notion is catching on in few law firms and legal departments, educational institutions of our country. Flexi time allows full-time employees to enjoy time off at certain times of the year most convenient to them. Flexi time can include flex hours, flex workdays/weekends, flex holidays, and other flexible work arrangements.
In fact, women do two jobs -- they work and they look after family. Flexi time helps them meet the unpredictable demands of family life, illness and personal emergencies. At the same time, flexible work options decrease employee stress, reduce sick leave, and increase productivity. Usually a working woman has to take maximum responsibility of her family and home and in such a scenario flexible working hours, option to work from home, and a friendly leave policy will help them juggle roles. Many acclaim women's multi-tasking ability, saying, "Since ages, women have been great multi-taskers and it is this in-built efficiency in them that helps them to manage work and home with such great perfection." Spouse support gives women psychological strength, they said, adding that at her organisation they have "personal interaction with our employees."
A recent study of Cranfield School of Management in the United Kingdom suggests that workers given flexible hours by their employers tend to work more intensely than their counterparts with more rigid office hours. However, it has been found that employees who worked remotely one day a week and workers who had reduced their required weekly office hours tended to report higher job satisfaction, lower stress and higher loyalty to their company than employees who didn't have flexible hours. One way to gain more flexibility is through alternative work schedules that provide greater flexibility or reduced hours. Examples of alternative work schedules include flex time, staggered hours, part-time employment and job sharing.
It is an interesting fact that most of the people want a working wife. At present about 80 per cent people want to marry working women. Surprisingly, these men, when they are at the higher positions, they often get puzzled finding female colleagues become pregnant. In Bangladesh, government already declared six months' maternity leave. But before leave, a woman in her pregnancy needs some support but it's not that she can't perform the day to day regular responsibilities. However, she can do the usual work without hiccup but a little flexibility may add more to her performance.
Daniel Jebasingh, CHRO, Consim Info Ltd, agrees that HR policies are becoming more friendly in Indian companies and claims, "We are one of the very few companies in India with an in-house counsellor who helps women cope with stress and generally maintain a good work/life balance."
To have a better equation between personal and professional life, women should avoid taking work back home. "Being a working professional for more than 13 years I have always managed to keep my personal and professional life separate. I never take my work home," said Daniel Jebasingh, CHRO, Consim Info Ltd.
In this country skilled workers of both genders have options. It is important not to force workers to choose between work and family. Each year thousands of good people leave good jobs to take other positions that are more family friendly. This situation has fuelled the dramatic rise of home-based and female-owned businesses.
Achieving a steadiness between professional and personal life is a challenge in today's fast-paced business. The traditional 9:00 am to 6:00 pm Saturday-Thursday work schedule no longer goes with many employees. Perhaps one has young children, or is pursuing a degree, has a chronic medical condition or needs to care for elderly parents. Whatever the reason, today's workplace offers a number of strategies to strike a better work life balance.
However, few Bangladeshi companies are also adopting work-from-home and flexible working hour policies to provide an ideal working atmosphere for women. HR fraternity at large must grow to be very responsive to the fact that a majority of the workforce consists of women. A woman has to balance multiple arenas like home, work and growing children's needs. More and more companies are fast adopting their policies to suit the requirement of women and help provide options like 'work from home', 'flexi hours' 'maternity break, etc. In fact, as long as the deliverables are clear and the women are performing, flexibility should be allowed.
The writer works at Bangla CAT as
manager, HRD
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