Malahat Rab, who looks after commercial affairs at Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), works from home one day a week. This way she insists she gets more time with her child and can now raise a family and pursue a career at the same time.
Malahat is part of a trial policy the PTA introduced where working mothers will get to work from home
for a day every week. She said, “Saving on 45 minutes of travel, not having to drop your child off at the daycare centre and cutting down on fuel expenses are just some of the benefits of this arrangement to us women.”
The young mother said working from home does not affect performance.
“Instead of face to face meetings with colleagues we use Skype and for inquiries from other divisions at the PTA, we communicate via WhatsApp where we have formed groups to stay in touch with each other.”
The PTA has decided to implement the work from home’ policy on trial basis to facilitate female employees, providing them with a more convenient and comfortable environment.
PTA said during the first phase of the experiment, a few female officers with small children will be allowed to work one day a week from home. After completion of the first phase, more officers will be included in the trial.
To make the setup workable, all required facilities, including an online portal, email and other online resources have been configured for remote access. A video conferencing arrangement has also been made to ensure smooth official communication between officers and supervisors. Like any new initiative, the work from home plan has met with some resistance.
Addressing some of these concerns, Zaibun Nisa, an assistant director at PTA, said working from home was not like a day off. She said, “We are just as vigilant and active when working from home as we are in our offices. Our performances can be monitored at any time after we connect to the PTA portal online.”
Zaibun Nisa has availed the work from home scheme twice and has felt it has made a difference in her relationship with her child. She says it is easier to prepare her one-year-old’s meals and that she saves on the time spent getting ready for work and the hour it takes her to get there.
She said, “I drop my child at the daycare too and there is hardly any time for me to feed my baby.” The mother said she saw the policy as a blessing for women and hoped it would be implemented in all private and government offices.
PTA Chairman Dr Ismail Shah was very optimistic about the work from home policy and said it will make the working environment more positive.
Dr Shah told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology last week that he believed in empowering his employees.
He said, “We are trying to provide equal opportunities to all employees and create a work environment where they can provide quality input at a comfortable pace.”
