Digital Workplaces – Boon Or Bane For Women?

Remote working will be one of the most integral parts of the COVID-induced ‘new normal’ – a word that has been gaining momentum recently. Work-from-home is on an unprecedented rise and so are digital workplaces.

But how normal are things for women at work? Is work-from-home going to be as good as it sounds?

Let us look at the different aspects of remote-working and what it means for women.

Aspects of remote working that are important from a woman’s perspective.

1. Work-Life Balance
Women from all walks of life juggle their jobs with their family lives after marriage. Striking the perfect work-life balance is a near impossible feat for most women. Stress from work, when taken home, hurts relationships, health, and happiness.

While COVID-19 presents us with an option to work from home, many are overjoyed at the prospect of a healthier work-life balance. You get to spend more time with your partner and your kids and catch up on all those Friday movie dates at home you missed because of work. You have time for yourself as well, to work-out, take up some hobbies and the list goes on. With remote working, you can put on many hats; you can be a great homemaker, an ambitious career woman, and a girl who has time to pamper herself.

Many companies are also offering virtual workshops that are an incredible opportunity for upskilling. It is possible to balance taking virtual workshops to learn something new, as well as do your job online. Rainmaker, for instance, offers virtual workshops for PoSH training to make the training more engaging and personal.

However, work from home has its own struggles. It is easier to get sidetracked by things going on in the house. Remote working will be extra hard if you have young children at home who require your attention and care even if someone else is in charge. Frequent interruption during working hours messes up your schedule, affects your productivity, and sends the wrong message to colleagues and employers. There should be efforts towards a healthier redistribution of household chores among all members of the family.

2. Money and Time
Transportation costs, rent, and food expenses total to a significant amount. A sizable portion of our salary is allotted to keeping up with the job.

Transportation costs vary from person-to-person depending on how long it takes to reach home from the place of work. The cost of long-distance travel, to and fro, sometimes puts the relevance of the job in question. In case you decide to rent a house near your workplace, the expenses are only going to jump up. Add to it the cost of eating out during lunch and tea breaks and it burns a significant hole in the pocket at the end of the month.

With remote working, you save time and money. But you will have to pay for services such as better internet, phone plan, and electricity, that are provided for free at work. Do the math and figure out what works best for you financially.

3. Lay-offs and Hiring
Lockdown is being slowly lifted and businesses are limping back into action. To compensate for cash crunch, decrease in customers and revenues due to the economic lockdown, many organizations are left with no option but to lay-off many employees. They need to cut costs if they are to survive the aftermath of the pandemic and its economic implications.

Unfortunately, women are likely to bear the brunt of this economic downturn. The gender gap in economic participation, which has been steadily narrowing, is all set to widen. In India, nearly 80 percent of the female workforce is in five sectors: agriculture, health, education, paid domestic work, and manufacturing. The nature of these jobs also gives less scope for remote working.

But, there is a bright side. As more companies come forward with the idea of remote working, when this is all over, it will open up more opportunities for stay-at-home moms. JobsForHer, an online career platform dedicated to women, reports a 30% increase in work-from-home jobs in March 2020 compared to last year. That is definitely something to look forward to.

4. Harassment & Discrimination
Moving to a work-from-home environment relieves women of the ‘harmless’ physical advances, touching, or groping they come across in the traditional set-up, not just at work, but also during their travel to their workplaces. The discrimination based on gender and sexuality one has to put up with on a daily basis in toxic work cultures are kept under check as most communication is via emails and calls rather than in person. But abusive and bullying instincts present in normal circumstances will find its way to the cyber world, eventually. Inappropriate behaviors and uncalled-for sexual advances, although not physical, are rampant on the internet. Digital workplaces are not entirely immune to sexual harassment. But there is something we can do about it.

How Women Are Protected at the Workplace
The PoSH Act 2013 safeguards women from sexual harassment at workplaces. The provisions of the act are applicable to digital environments as well. The place of work can be any place visited by the employee during the course of employment. Work from home and communication through the internet and telephone are covered under the PoSH law.

As an employer, you can foster an inclusive workplace culture in your organization by providing anti-sexual harassment online training to all employees. Rainmaker is an online learning and content provider focused on creating a healthy and ethical work environment in organizations. We help your company adhere to the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Law (PoSH) by training employees, management, and the members of the Internal Committee. Our interactive virtual workshops, easy to follow anti-sexual harassment online training modules, and educational videos in short-film formats make compliance training fun and engaging.

Parting Thoughts
Most employees are new to digital workplaces. If employers are willing to cut them some slack until they adapt to the system, it will be a move towards fostering a positive work environment. Companies should maintain a healthy ratio of female to male employees during recruitment and layoffs to ward-off gender-disparity. Men can significantly take the burden off women by actively participating in household chores and childcare. Cooperation from family members, colleagues, and employers along with a reshuffle in daily routine will make remote-working a bliss for women.

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