Work from Home, Mental Health and Employee Needs: An Exploratory Study in Indian IT companies

Abstract

COVID-19 had an unprecedented impact on health and overall development. A Press Release from World Bank stated that mitigation measures decreased investment, limited production, and global trade, slowing down the economy and jeopardising years of progress made in human development (World Bank,2020). Given the gruelling circumstances, in March 2020, Work from Home (WFH) or remote work emerged as the only panacea to help employees to continue work and organisations to continue with their productivity. Drawing from the global discussions, India's Government quickly adopted WFH across all the ministries; in March 2020. While WFH did ensure business continuity, especially in the services sectors; it also came with its share of problems. One of the main challenges employees faced by May 2020 was their mental health and well-being. The International Labour Organisations (ILO) had cautioned that factors such as isolation, blurring of boundaries between work and family may impact the employees' mental health (ILO,2020). Given this situation, we undertook a study in the IT sector of India. The objectives of the study were to explore - a) employee needs and concerns, with specific focus on mental health and well-being during long-term WFH. b) response of Indian IT companies towards employee’s mental health and well-being during WFH, The purpose of the study was two-fold: a) highlight employee needs and initiatives required to protect their mental health and b) help organisations develop a comprehensive policy on mental health and well-being of employees as part of their organisational health and safety management.