Please go home! Indian firm deploys software for work-life balance

NEW DELHI — A small IT company in the central Indian city of Indore has come up with an unusual way to ensure its employees maintain a healthy work-life balance — by creating software to remind them when their shift is up and it is time to head home.

Softgrid Computers' software is equipped with a notification system that kicks in the moment an employee's shift is over, warning them that "the office system will shut down in 10 mins" and asking them to "please go home".

The measure comes amid an increased focus on and research into the adverse effect of long working hours on the health and relationships of employees across the world.

The World Health Organisation, for example, warned in 2021 that working 55 or more hours a week can lead to a 35 per cent higher risk of stroke, and a 17 per cent higher risk of dying from heart disease.

"The thought behind this is providing employees a good work-life balance so that they can spend time with their families and loved ones," Chief Executive Ajay Golani told Reuters partner ANI.

The pop-up created a social media buzz recently when an employee, Tanvi Khandelwal, shared a picture of the warning on a company desktop.

"They put this special reminder, which locks my desktop after business hours and issues a warning," Khandelwal shared on LinkedIn a week ago. Her post has since received nearly 400,000 likes. "NO MORE CALLS AND MAILS OUTSIDE OF BUSINESS HOURS!! Isn't this fantastic?"

Kritika Dubey, one of 40 people employed at the company, told ANI that the pop-up helped her leave on time and fulfil other responsibilities at home.

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