Reworking ‘Flexibility’: Work-From-Home Experiences of First-Generation Graduates Employed in the Indian Information Technology Sector

Anuza Subramaniam () and Kalpana Karunakaran
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Anuza Subramaniam: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras
Kalpana Karunakaran: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras

The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 2025, vol. 68, issue 2, No 16, 665-679

Abstract: Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated national lockdowns led to the widespread implementation of Work-from-Home (WFH) in India’s information technology (IT) sector. Since the end of the pandemic, many companies have adopted hybrid models of work that combine WFH as well as the office. In the light of these developments, this paper explores the gendered dimensions of a ‘flexible’ strategy such as WFH for women and men workers during the pandemic and its changing contours with the passage of time. By focussing on first-generation graduates, the paper shows how IT employees’ homes were re-constituted as workplaces in familial settings marked by the absence of social and economic privilege. Drawing on scholarship on flexible labour in globalised workspaces, this paper discusses how pre-existing work flexibility was both intensified and recalibrated in the WFH regime with both employees and managers seeking to mould workplace flexibility to meet their specific and conflicting needs. Keywords: Information Technology (IT), work-from-home (WFH), flexible work, gender, India

Keywords: Information Technology (IT); Work-from-home (WFH); Flexible work; Gender; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F66 L86 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s41027-024-00550-0

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