It’s time to go home, Indian company tells employees

To encourage employees to spend more time with their families, an Indian company is shutting down workstations after employees’ shifts have ended.
By: | February 22, 2023
Topics: Employee Experience | Health and Wellness | India | News

To improve organisational work-life balance, an IT company in India has literally made it impossible for employees to work overtime.

At the end of their designated shift, all 40 employees of Softgrid Computers will receive a notification on their computers telling them that the office system will shutdown in 10 minutes, before asking them to “please go home.”

Speaking with ANI News, a Reuters partner, Ajay Golani, CEO of Softgrid Computers, explained, “The thought behind this is providing employees a good work-life balance so that they can spend time with their families and loved ones.”

READ: Flexibility for employees in India as hybrid work set to stay

According to Section 33 of India’s Minimum Wages Act, employees who work overtime must be paid at a rate that is double their regular rates of pay. It states that the employer may accept actual work up to a maximum of nine hours every 12-hour shift on any given day.

While organisations that eschew overtime can reduce cost, such a measure is also likely to improve employees’ health, as a World Health Organisation (WHO) report in 2021 highlighted.

Working 55 or more hours a week, the WHO warned, can lead to a 35% higher risk of stroke, and a 17% higher risk of dying from heart disease.