In May this year, Susheela Pavate, 41, quit her high-paying tech job after a disagreement with her line manager about mandatorily reporting to the office four days a week. “After three years of working from home, I found the switch tough, along with the long commute to work,” says the mother of two. Pavate reasons that she is more productive working from home. She puts the hybrid work norms down to company rigidity.
In a week’s time, software professional Janavi (name changed to protect privacy), 32, has to report to the office twice a week, as the multinational technology company in Bengaluru she is employed with has ended the fully remote work.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Janavi relocated to her hometown, in Udipi district in Coastal Karnataka, where she enrolled her school-going child in a local institution. Moving to the metro is not going to be easy as the academic year has begun, and this young mother has little social support.
