As part of its ongoing efforts to introduce progressive policies and enable better work-life balance, Amazon India has introduced a new part-time work arrangement policy starting November 2021. The new policy enables employees to avail of reduced working hours in order to focus on personal priorities. Employees can temporarily request to work fewer hours after prior discussions with their managers and HR.
Initiative, motivation, and reliability have truly been the cornerstones of our work culture.
Deepti Varma, HR Director at Amazon India says, “Initiative, motivation, and reliability have truly been the cornerstones of our work culture. We recognize that sometimes personal priorities – health, older parents or parenthood – demand that we scale back from work. The effort here is to give employees the flexibility to bring better balance into their lives.”
The policy is an expression of trust in employees' professionalism and does not compromise on performance and accountability. While goals will be adjusted basis the reduced hours, the policy ensures that customer expectations are not compromised.
Amazon’s temporary part-time policy is, of course, governed by reasonable conditions and based on business priorities. All aspects of the benefits and policy have been well thought through and ensure that career progression and internal movements to other roles are not affected either; employees can pursue career growth irrespective of the hours at work. Career growth remains based on how an employee demonstrates the leadership principles and next-level competencies.
Given Amazon’s leadership principle of striving to be ‘Earth’s Best Employer’, developing progressive people policies geared towards holistic wellness have always been an important focus area. This includes initiatives such as ‘Svasthya’ that covers health check-ups, an employee assistance program (EAP), and employee well-being initiatives like diet, nutrition, and counseling. During the pandemic, Amazon also launched a wellness app, a ‘Listening Circle’ for people to share their stories, as well as financial awareness sessions.
