Indian technology company asks employees to go home on time
"Your shift time is over. The office System will shut down in 10 mins. PLEASE GO HOME!" - When such a colorful warning flashed on the screens of work computers for the first time, the employees of the Indian technology company were at first stunned.
SoftGrid Computers is an Indian tech startup based in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, employees of which receive a daily logout notification 10 minutes before the end of their shift. At 7:00 pm, their computers automatically turn off.
Svetlana Shukla, CEO and co-founder of SoftGrid, says the notice was part of the company's efforts to help employees better balance work and personal life.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has upset the balance of our workdays and we have all started working overtime. I struggled to find time for my child," she told BBC News.
Her partners in the firm faced similar challenges. So they asked a colleague to create software that would first display a warning on the screen and then turn off the computer after 10 minutes.
“We did it over the weekend because we wanted it to be a surprise. When the pop-up first appeared on the screens, many employees thought it was a prank or that someone had hacked into their computer,” Ms Shukla says.
She says she chose the pop-up because it was more fun than "a boring note or email."
Employees say the message is a handy reminder to leave the office and head home on time. Some admit that this is very different from their previous workplaces, where leaving early was frowned upon and employees were encouraged to work overtime.
One employee wrote about the pop-up initiative on LinkedIn about a week ago, stating that if someone "works in this type of culture, you don't need any Monday or Happy Friday motivation to improve your mood."
The post quickly went viral with over 400,000 likes and 7,000 comments. Many users praised the initiative, but some also questioned its practicality.
“This will create pressure to meet deadlines earlier,” wrote one user. Another said that "an inflexible work spirit" could force people to work weekends. Others have asked what happens if there is work in progress and the employee cannot simply log out.
“They can just restart the system and log in again,” Shukla explained. The message itself is non-binding and simply meant to remind teammates that the work day is over and that they can leave.
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