The Hindu Business Line : Look Ma, no career break

In an era of economic slowdown when people are happy to hold on to their jobs, PepsiCo is encouraging the employees it values to opt for flexi-timing or work from home. This because some of the women, and the odd man too, would simply quit if they are not given this option.

Neha Markande, currently a brand manager, joined PepsiCo in 2006 when she handled innovations. When she had her baby last year, she needed different work hours. “I discussed the timing with my boss and my team, came in early and left early.”

And, it wasn’t difficult to negotiate this. “Initially it was a bit of a culture change because in marketing you have meetings with agencies a little late in the evenings. But once I made it very transparent and open, it wasn’t a problem and everybody came around to support me and we’d have our meetings in the first half. So I was free to wrap up my work and leave a little early. Also Geetu (Verma) was then my boss and having a woman boss made it simpler.”

Neha took five months’ leave for her delivery; in the sixth month she started working three days a week to get her baby used to her work schedule. Her daughter is now one year old and even though Neha is back for fulltime duty, she works “a little differently compared to my other colleagues; coming in an hour earlier and leaving by 6.30 p.m.” This is to accommodate her 90-minute commute. On the odd day, she is allowed to work from home; “it’s not frequent and you don’t ask to do so when there are meetings or some other essential work,” she says.

Nupur Bhargava, PepsiCo’s Vice-President, Staffing, says that as part of the company’s initiative to ensure diversity and equitable gender mix in the workforce “we look at situations where either for childbirth or children’s education, women need to remain at home for a certain number of hours.”

Young moms

But do women, who request flexi-work timings or working from home, feel awkward or pressurised that they are demanding something extra?

Not really, says Neha. “I see quite a few young moms exercising this option the company has given. Initially I did feel a little awkward, but when you see other women doing it and recognise that it’s really a life-stage issue and nothing to do with you as a person, you get over those inhibitions.”

The bottom line of course is performance, and recently people like her have been given laptops, “so you work a little bit in the nights, during the weekends, and make sure you deliver results.”

But physically it can get demanding “because you’re handling the baby plus the work. It’s not easy but you have to go through it and you know it’s a passing phase.”

And employees like Neha get encouraged when a senior person like Geetu Verma, Executive Director, Strategic Initiatives, takes nine months off to provide moral support to her daughter facing Class X examination. An MBA in Marketing, Geetu joined the company in 1996 as Marketing Director, Snacks. She took the break last year to provide her 16-year-old daughter “guidance and moral support during moments of stress. At work, life is too busy to allow that.”

To the comment that most working moms don’t take such breaks, she quips, “I never took a break when my kids were born!”

The result was a “delightful time” for both mother and daughter. “She loved it; she is a bright girl but having me around helped to put a little discipline, and we really bonded.”

But Geetu admits that when she made the request for this long break, initially there was a “bit of a surprise but overall they were extremely supportive and said let’s figure out the best way to make it work for both the organisation and you.”

She did find it difficult to disconnect with the office during the first month; “the interesting thing was that all through I stayed connected with the company because the clear understanding was that I would return, maybe not in the same role.”

She was connected by email, and though she didn’t get business mails, “I knew what was going on; I could log in whenever I wanted to; I also did a small project, which kept me connected but didn’t take too much time. I was called for all important get-togethers, so the feeling of belonging stayed throughout and there was never a vacuum, even with my global colleagues.”

Geetu’s husband runs his business and was supportive of her decision. The best part of her break was reserving 45 days for the post-exam period, “so she could let her hair down with me!”

When she took the break she was executive director for innovations programme, and worked out her new role on return.

When asked if such employees would feel vulnerable if a downsizing were to take place, Neha says: “Not at all; I think roles which are redundant will get knocked off if necessary. Even though I have a little kid at home, the culture in the company is such that I don’t feel that I am asking for too much.” Neha’s husband works as a consultant with Accenture. So did he make adjustments with his time too? “Those things happen on an everyday basis. On days when I have to stay back longer than usual, he comes back early. When I’m not well, he steps in to take care of the child.”

Gender neutral policy

Nupur says the company has put in place a number of policies that support both female and male managers who need to take time off. The lone male who has taken this option so far did it for elderly care. “Men find it more difficult to exercise such options, but we don’t discriminate saying it is open only to women.”

But things are changing and she finds male management trainees “requesting that ‘as my fiancée is working in financial services, I’d like to be placed in Mumbai’. It is beginning to happen and will grow.”

This initiative, introduced a few years ago, includes options such as flexi-hours, flexi-work locations or one day’s work from home if required. Interestingly, Nupur, a senior HR executive, has herself exercised this option. “My boss and key customers sit in Delhi but I’ve been working from Mumbai for five years because of spouse relocation.” Her husband works in marketing with Vodafone and they have no children.

Most women request flexi-hours during childbirth. On return, “typically they want to work from home for a few hours or come in for a few hours”. This helps the transition back to work and acclimatises the baby to the absence of the mother.

But such options are limited to 6-12 months, and “nobody has come back to us saying I want to extend, or return earlier to office because I feel left out of the workforce or my manger is bypassing me,” says Nupur.

This policy kicked in on request from women employees, and “as an organisation when we benchmarked we found it made logical sense; if you want to retain top talent… talent that has been with you for a while, you need such arrangements.” In a workforce of 1,000, in the last couple of years, hardly 10-15 employees have opted for this.

But PepsiCo has gone a step ahead and beyond such initiatives to maintain a healthy gender ratio. In an interesting initiative, the company has tied up with services such as jobstreet, “where we’ve taken the lead in posting jobs in the organisation meant to attract women professionals currently in the workforce as well as women who have taken a break, allowing their transition back to corporate life either through fulltime or part-time projects.”

Great talent pool

On why it would go out of the way to attract more women, Nupur says, “Because that’s a great talent which has already spent x number of years in an organisation and has got out of it because of some personal needs.” For the moment only fulltime roles are being posted. She adds that despite the economic downturn, hiring continues for some critical roles.

Pavitra Singh, General Manager, Organisation Capability, took maternity leave last year when her daughter was born, and then opted for flexi-work from home. “What really helped was how the organisation helped smoothen my return after maternity.” For a while she worked from home, then it was a 50:50 between home and office “when my daughter got used to not seeing me half a day”, before returning to normal work pattern.

Her husband, who works with Wipro, has also found support in moving from a role that required extensive travelling to one that cuts down his travel.

They too got promoted

Neha Markande with her baby daughter.

They got promoted too! PepsiCo’s female employees in India who opted for flexitime or flexi-work schedules during childbirth, ran no risk of sinking into post-partum blues. In fact, some of these women have actually managed promotions! Neha Markande recalls how after she went on maternity leave, her current role as brand manager opened up, and she applied for it. "It was a level higher than my previous role and many women would have hesitated, thinking there is no way I’ll get promoted at such a stage. But when I returned in March, I got this promotion. My maternity leave or my being a young mom was not held against me. To be recognised for your potential and what you’ve done in the past was very encouraging."

Pavitra Singh on a family holiday.

Pavitra Singh too climbed the ladder. Her earlier role was manager, staffing, and after her maternity leave she did projects for two months and got a promotion as GM. "Many people think that once you return from maternity leave you won’t deliver much or your value as an employee comes down. But in my case the opposite happened; my work was valued and rewarded with a promotion. The organisation did not think that just because I had a baby I wouldn’t be able to deliver. That was a very positive and encouraging signal…" Her then boss Geetu Verma adds: "She got the promotion because we knew she was ready for the next role; actually the function waited for a month for her to come back!" Such initiatives and attitudes strengthen the loyalty factor. "It strengthens your sense of belonging… and PepsiCo feels like a family," sums up Geetu.

Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in

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