Work From Home maybe one of the few positive outcomes of the NCOVID 19 Pandemic II Part 2



Work From Home Part 2

By Malini Shankar

Digital Discourse Foundation

Not all sectors can adapt to Work From Home

Indeed there was some merit in the criticism as many kinds of professionals cannot work on digital platforms: Municipal workers, legal and medical fraternities, teachers, tourism professionals, cooks, domestic maids, cannot work in the digital workspace.

“Apart from the sectors that require physical skills, every other sector has a potential to transition to WFH” says Gopikrishna S Garge, formerly network administrator of ERNET in IISc, and IITs in India, in an e mail interview given to Digital Discourse Foundation dwelling on how tele-medicine has succeeded in many parts of the world, India being no exception.

But it is amazing how rapidly the non-digital workforce has adapted in India. “Yes, WFH is a reality to accept as well as contend with. However, I would envisage a 70% WFH in terms of time. Face-to-face (F2F) keeps an organisation together, if you consider an organisation as a community” says Gopikrishna S Garge.

“The manufacturing and services (hospitality, healthcare, logistics and transportation) sectors require on-site presence. However, with the proliferation of cloud-based services, a large portion of typical administrative work of organisations can transcend to WFH” says Arun Gopinath Project Manager in a leading MNC in Bangalore, speaking to Digital Discourse Foundation.

WFH: Legal Fraternity will be the perfect click and mortar fit

Sectors such as software development and consultation services in various sectors (Technology, healthcare, legal, counselling, etc)  could completely transcend to WFH. India’s Supreme Court judges revolutionised the legal community on the 1st of June 2020 when they started using laptops in the Open Court Halls. Securing internet connection in a court of Law is a tremendous challenge and responsibility for the Governments. And if material facts / evidence are not digitised securely, using Laptops will only be a show. 

Will open court halls shift to a digital spectrum is now the question on the lips of the legal fraternity in India. Sacred pillar of Democracy being in a way liberalised to the private homes will be interesting, to say the least.  Where will the clients sit and watch the proceedings? Citizens present in the court halls lent enormous transparency in the critical pillar of democratic dispensation. The archival material of cases judgments are of critical value to the future. Digitally archiving case judgments will be crucial for efficient digitised working of the wheels of justice. 

Given that the legal eagles are largely a geriatric lot, for them to become computer savvy and present their arguments staring into the Web camera output will not just be revolutionary but can be deprived of the element of transparency so central to Democratic dispensation. Then, think of all the documents to be presented to courts in digitised format!

“For typical civil court hearings, attendance via video calls is already a norm. In my opinion, transcending civil court operations to the online platform would happen first. I do wonder what the equivalent of ‘All Rise’ would be, when a live hearing is going on, online” says Garge, a little amused.

In a large country / subcontinent like India the judicial Administration has to adapt and evolve methods for legal professionals to log into a ‘judicial intranet’ maybe to present their arguments in the presence of the presiding judge in a Court of Law.

Ofcourse the atmosphere of rapt attention to a lawyer’s brilliant articulation and the suspense in the hearing of criminal cases will likely be amiss. But imagine the possibility of speedy computerised records aiding speedy delivery of justice!  

Before all government records are digitised a judicial intranet will be only semi functional. WFH has not even studied the security issues … 

There will be teething troubles for signing in as senior counsels / petitioners/ lawyers / respondents to assign a lawyer, schedule their commute from jail to court, etc. especially in rural or semi urban courts where internet connectivity may not be flawless.

“Case data can be digitised eliminating human errors and automating routine manual procedures. These are just some scenarios. Apps can be developed for further nuanced requirements” explains Gopinath very enthusiastically.

The legal profession can benefit greatly from digitisation. Millions of under trials haven’t had a hearing in years because it is not possible to assign a lawyer, schedule their commute from jail to court, etc.

“A lot of this delay can be minimised with video hearings, online hiring of lawyers, crowdfunding fees for example - can all be done online; Judges and lawyers can avoid scheduling challenges, avoid traffic issues etc through video hearings” adds Gopinath.

“Urban and semi-urban centres already have such bandwidth availability (10 Mbps to 50 Mbps) on broadband, supplemented by 4G mobile. Rural users rely on mobile broadband, in some cases using 3G.

India has adopted 4 G (or the 4th generation technology) which allows downloads of upto 100 MBPS. 5 G commercial networks have just started rolling out but the pace of the rollout has gathered big momentum in markets like the US, Korea, Japan and China.

That is the segment that needs to be addressed in terms of bandwidth. The urban and semi-urban centres are already there. The rural users need additional bandwidth resources” says Garge. India’s internet penetration was about 34.45% of the population of nearly 1.3 billion in 2017 according to Individuals Internet 2000-2018_Dec2019.

That means barely a quarter of India’s population has access to the Internet and in any case this is largely urban based. No data is readily available to quantify the junk that circulates on social media platforms like WhatsApp… burdening the bandwidth enormously.

TCS had 90% of its employees working from home in end April 2020. It has committed to transitioning to WFH by 2025. TCS CEO says the business model is 20 years old. Twitter and Shopify have committed to similar transitions to WFH, organisation wide. 

“Urban and semi-urban centres in India have good connectivity and bandwidth. The affordability has increased commendably. Private ISPs rub shoulders with the telecom giants in bringing fibre-to-the-home (FTTH). Yes, there are issues of consistent service to contend with – power supply and Internet connectivity – in that order. Fix the inconsistency and all is well for the morphing of work location and routines” according to Garge.

A few questions remain ofcourse. How can education go online? The education sector is one that should benefit the most because obviously the Internet is the gateway to the maximum information one would think... research possibilities are endless.

With the webcam acting as the recorder and the invigilator, teachers are realising that they can continue teaching, and what’s more, teach perhaps with greater efficiency - automating tasks like checking attendance, evaluating quizzes and recording lessons for replay.

Simply said, education sector online needs more engagement, so watch this space.

Work From Home requires streamlining many areas of the economy: records, documents, Forms, Applications, for the Legal Administration to go online; segments like manufacturing have to synchronise with e commerce to monetise WFH. Intranets or sub internet circuits have to be designed for areas like education / examination centres, and password protection should prevent hacking… these are just some of the prerequisites for efficient Work From Home Economy to deliver to a tax regime. Not in the least significant is the issue of extra bandwidth and huge servers for storage of data in each household  The consumers of apps like WhatsApp must also realise that bandwidth should not be wasted on circulating junk. It is not as easy as announcing or passing an executive order of governance. WFH ain’t so simple Mr. Prime Minister - even for the erudite classes.

CONCLUDED 

Links: 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danabrownlee/2020/05/18/twitter-square-announce-work-from-home-forever-optionwhat-are-the-risks/#3438084b2565)

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/stocks-in-news/75-of-our-employees-to-work-from-home-by-2025-tcs-global-hr-head/videoshow/75467859.cms

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-21/shopify-is-joining-twitter-in-permanent-work-from-home-shift

https://ecopolglobe.wordpress.com/2020/05/07/work-from-home-the-other-side-of-the-story/

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