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<ul><li>The AI-driven new offering is an extension of the already existing video content division ‘TWIP.’</li><li> The collaboration with Vidz.ai will enable TWIP to extend customization and personalization in videos under TWIP.</li></ul>Tonic Worldwide, a digital-first creative agency, has launched an AI-driven personalised <keyword id="9501547" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="video-marketing-solution">video marketing solution</keyword> for brands, as an extension of its already existing snackable video content division 'TWIP' - <keyword id="9501511" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tonic-Worldwide-Intuitive-Programming">Tonic Worldwide Intuitive Programming</keyword>. The collaboration with Vidz.ai will enable TWIP to extend customisation and personalisation in videos under TWIP. Personalisation adds more context and relevance to brand videos and is key to helping them grab more and more eyeballs as well as increasing engagement. Realising the potential for such hyperlocal customized videos, Tonic Worldwide’s TWIP will now create and distribute numerous such custom-made videos in seconds, for brands. TWIP is also built to deliver a seamless experience for brands, right from personalized video content creation &amp; interaction to dissemination &amp; detailed watch analytics powered by Vidz.ai. Speaking on the new offering, Sudish Balan, Chief Business Officer, Tonic Worldwide, says, “In the new normal, video content consumption has drastically increased on all platforms. Brands and businesses are gearing up to make up for the lost time and as agency partners we would want to equip them with effective and agile solutions. This mass personalization of videos with AI enables us to do that and can play a great role in garnering consumer trust and attention, as well as make it contextual to their needs and interests. This personalized video marketing solution can also be used to enhance effectiveness at every stage, right from awareness to action.” Adding to this Rajesh Goyal, Partner &amp; Co-founder, Vidz.ai, says, “Marketing is transforming rapidly in the digital world. Vidz.ai is happy to partner with Tonic to enable them with Hyper personalization, customization in videos. This will enable brands to have a seamless customer experience with video interaction and stay true to TWIPs promise of ‘Intuitive’ communication backed by customer data.”

Tonic Worldwide launches personalised video marketing solution for brands

<ul><li>Over the years, the advertising industry has normalised in-human working hours. Last week, the advertising industry lost a young gem due to cardiac arrest, which was induced by <keyword id="32784" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="work-stress">work stress</keyword>.</li><li>We speak to a few young copywriters to find out how stressful the job is, why does the problem exist and what kind of policies we need to execute to change the situation around. </li><li>We also spoke to a few agencies that have managed to create a healthy workplace and addressed examples of overworked and stressed employees at work. </li></ul>Last week, the advertising industry lost a young professional due to cardiac arrest, which was induced by stress. We were all left aghast to hear that she was only in her 40s. Many CEOs and Creative Directors sent their heart-felt condolences to her family members and to the agency she worked with. But did they make any concrete changes to make sure this is not repeated or did it start a much-needed conversation on how toxic advertising culture can get? This unfortunate incident has taken us back to the same problem/question that keeps popping up every year but it is never addressed. Will the stress level in the advertising industry ever subside and can copywriters ever dream of having a work-life balance? Over the years, the advertising industry has normalised inhuman working hours. In 2017, Tadashi Ishii, CEO, DAN Japan, had to resign after the suicide of an overworked junior employee. It did raise some questions back then but the topic was brushed under the carpet as always. This time, in India, we have lost another life to advertising's work stress. It is time we realise the severity of this problem and start talking about it. <div type="javascript" title="Custom" contenttype="Text"><cdata><![CDATA[]]></cdata></div> Nikhil Narayanan, Creative Director at Ogilvy, took to LinkedIn to share this angst against people who take their job too seriously. He wrote, “I am no expert on other industries, but advertising is one that has normalised inhuman working hours. People flaunt dark circles caused by a lack of sleep like a badge of honour. When you leave work at 6 in the evening, you are asked whether you are taking half a day off. Jokingly. "If you aren't willing to work 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, you aren't cut for this, dude," some say with condescension. Well, sc*w that.” With work from home, the stress levels, tough deadlines, demanding clients and high pressure have all quadrupled. The person who does have the ‘audacity’ to prioritise a personal task over work, is frowned upon. People boast about how many hours they work, depth of dark circles under their eyes and for treating work like their life-time partner. There is a series called Thinkistaan written by N Padmakumar, who has spent 17 years of his life in the ad industry, that aims to talk about the <keyword id="2312133" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Toxic-work-culture">toxic work culture</keyword> that the advertising industry has built over the years. I reached out to a few of the top agencies of our country including DAN, GroupM, OML, The Glitch, Leo Burnett and all of them denied to comment. Agencies that did agree to speak to me told me all is well now. They do offer flexible working hours to their employees. But ground reality is not the same. I spoke to junior copywriters from the same agencies and they painted a different picture altogether. They said that they are overworked, constantly in-between calls and do not have the time for their families even if they sit right next to each other. They eat their meals as they work and even have to keep their personal life aside on the weekends. So why do we still continue to pressurize our employees and deny them their dues? Young copywriters and art directors told me it all boils down to the notion that you cannot say no to your client. Clients are treated like God in our industry. Agencies, on the other hand, are often treated like the client’s extended family, who can be cut out if one thing goes wrong because there are too many fish in the sea who would even agree to do the work at a lesser price. A young copywriter at a digital agency, Yesha Shah, describes the toxicity in the industry saying, “Working in an ad agency is like getting back with your toxic ex-boyfriend. You know that it is so toxic but you just can’t let it go.” She resigned last week due to the ever-increasing workload. Many creative people have resigned over the years and never looked back. They have decided to settle for a 9 to 5 job instead and kept their passion aside for peace of mind. People who do survive in the industry have to accept the fact that they cannot have a life apart from work. Shah has never kept her phone on silent and attended calls even at 3 am due to a false sense of emergency created by her clients about a mundane task. She has nightmares about getting fired by the client, she lives and breathes work. She says that she feels guilty for taking an off when she is unwell. She also tried to discuss it with her HR representatives and Client Managers, who did understand her problem but let it slide by saying, “This is how it is. We cannot say no.” “A colleague of mine once worked from 10 am to 7 am and that is the benchmark they have set for us now. I once left at 11 pm on a Friday night because I was done with my work and the entire team paused and frowned -- like I did something wrong. We are expected to stay until 4 am on a Friday night. Now, I don’t even have the time to eat food. I have roti, kapda, makaan but not the time to enjoy these basic rights I deserve. Eating food is a privilege here. I used to love writing but if I continue working like this, I will be dead when in my 30s,” shared Shah. Shah is 22 and has reached her burn out level already. She is going to leave the advertising industry and is reconsidering her life goals completely now. Another intern with an integrated agency spoke to us on the condition of anonymity. He told us about a pitch he and his team worked on for a month. The client (a digital wallet app) created a false sense of urgency at first and kept postponing the meeting later. When he did set a date to meet with the agency, he sat through the presentation for five minutes and walked off mid-way. Jay Morzaria, Creative Partner, Atom commented on Narayan’s post talking about a similar problem he faced. He said, “It's also a lot to do with boundaries which many ad agencies have failed to set with their clients. In a bid to 'maintain relationships', we have turned ourselves into slaves. Till now, out of all the 'urgent' jobs I have done, most of them eventually got cancelled or delayed.” Where does the buck stop? “How do we change this toxic culture? Need to plan work better, stand up to clients and learn to say NO. When we succumb to survival fear, we open ourselves up to exploitation,” said Hamsini Shivkumar, Leapfrog Strategy Consulting. A lot of agencies have introduced HR policies that allow employees to consult an in-house counselor for free, take an off on Monday once in a month or stamp in on a time-sheet that alerts the HR representative when they overwork. But are these policies religiously followed? A seasoned Creative Director, Nazim Ahmed (name changed to maintain anonymity) who has nearly 15 years of advertising experience and is currently working at one of the top <keyword id="1015861" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="advertising-agencies">advertising agencies</keyword> of our country, also said that agencies do offer the right HR policies but the ground-reality is quite different. “There are no boundaries at work or fixed timings. In advertising, you walk in at 10:30 am but there's no fixed time to leave. Before COVID, signing off from office meant you’re done for the day. But when at home, you cannot leave for the day. Now, because we are working from home, all hours are working hours. To address stress-related concerns, our HR started an activity called townhall where employees were allowed to raise their concerns but the entire team is on the call. You cannot really discuss your issues in front of the entire agency so people chose to speak about smaller issues. The biggest reason behind all this workload is that agencies can only do so much and clients are very demanding. At the end of the day, if you don’t deliver, the client will tell you they have other options available. During this lockdown, we have done a lot of work under this false sense of urgency created by clients and a lot of that work never saw the light of the day. They call it off, not even having the decency to inform us at times. Work stress has always existed in the industry but the problem has magnified now. The boundaries are completely blurred,” said Ahmed. In case an employee does muster the courage to say no and breaks the chain, he/she is either fired or someone else in the team is assigned the task. The pressure is passed from one person to another but there is no end to it. Learning from a few examples We spoke to a few agencies that have managed to find basic solutions to ease the workload. MediaCom has taken a few measures to reduce burnout and stress amongst its employees. Navin Khemka, CEO, MediaCom South Asia said, “We are encouraging employees to take leaves, emphasizing on the importance to give rest to ourselves, reduce our stress, be resilient and ensure our mental well-being. This is an agenda which is being accentuated in all our leadership calls and town halls. We have, in fact, highlighted employees who have not taken a single leave in the entire year, and reported them to their respective managers, to encourage employees to take breaks and avoid burnouts. Khemka also lets his employees take a week off after a hectic schedule. He said, “This was implemented with the team members being given time off on a rotation basis. This has been very well appreciated by both teams and clients. We have also spoken to our employees to go back to their hometowns and WFH. This also ensures that they get quality time at home and are not staying all alone in a big city. They have been told that they will be given at least 2 weeks’ notice before we reopen offices.” Gozoop was ranked on No. 20 amongst India’s top 50 Great Mid-Size Workplaces in 2019 by a publication. Its Chief Happiness Officer, Bansi Raja, told us a few problems they decided to address to create a healthy workplace. She said, “Life in the advertising industry is as stressful as someone working in the stock market or even the telecom industry. Instead of focusing on reducing the stress, let’s shift our lens to providing a strong work culture and helping build resilience within your team. Enabling constructive feedback conversations, having each other’s back through tough times, leading with compassion and empathy balanced with tough love, pushing back unnecessary deadlines, being real, and extending professional help around mental breakdowns are ways to build a culture that stands strong in the face of adversities and strengthens your team from within. When you truly care for your team as your own, you’ll know exactly what will make them thrive. So focus within and build a culture that you wished you had in your early years. That’s the only way we’ll build a future that we’re proud of.” Sudish Balan, Chief Business Officer, Tonic Worldwide also said dealing with <keyword id="32785" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="work-pressure">work pressure</keyword> is never easy but it’s worse when you don’t get support for dealing with it. Talking about a few policies they introduced to address problems related to work stress, Balan said, “The HR team at Tonic sends out frequent communication to our clients on the working hour policy that we have. Sometimes it’s to express our gratitude to the clients in helping us ensure the work hours are maintained. As soon as lockdown was announced and working from home became the mode of operation, we initiated a Timesheet system. The sole purpose of the timesheet is to track overworking teammates. We have a Red Flag algorithm incorporated in the time sheet to track based on the number of hours. The Team lead is held responsible if the flag is raised. Our HR team monitors this system closely on a real time basis and takes actions on a weekly basis. As a creative person myself, I consider myself as a lamp which can burn brighter if I spend more time switched off than when I am switched On. It’s the same logic we have for our people at Tonic 'Switch OFF so that you can Switch ON and be awesome.'” BBH &amp; Publicis Worldwide India has also introduced mental wellness programs for its employees. Subhash Kamath CEO, BBH &amp; Publicis Worldwide, India said, "Working from home, though it cuts down travel time etc, brings its own stress and problems. A lot of people have felt that the lines between working hours and personal time have started to blur, and they feel they’re putting in more work time at odd hours as well. Plus, people living alone can feel isolated and anxious, having to do everything in the house while coping with work. As a group, we’re acutely aware of this and we’ve always maintained that people safety and health come first. So, a number of initiatives have been introduced for the benefit of our employees. We’ve tied up with a professional organisation, which has many years of experience in this. It gives our employees and their dependents free access to trained, independent counsellors who can help deal with personal or professional issues. The areas of counselling not only include mental wellbeing but also physical wellness and nutrition. And all if it is done in complete privacy. And the Employee Assistance Programme Hotline is available 24x7. In addition, we’re encouraging all team leaders to be in regular touch with their teams. And every now and then we all meet online informally, as well as continuing with cultural activities like music jams, guest speakers etc.” Famous Innovation’s Creative Director, Ketan Sudhir Kadam, says he has been privileged to find an agency that allows him to maintain a balance between personal and professional life. “I accepted an offer letter from Famous Innovations and just a day after the lockdown announcement was made. To be very honest, I was worried about how I would blend in a new agency without even meeting anyone in person before, except Raj Kamble whom I met at a few industry events before joining. Since my joining, I did not find any kind of work pressure and it is just because of the culture we have here. The situation is new to everyone, we all have to work together and make it better for anyone who is affected by the pandemic. I believe, we all should, without hesitating, take a break whenever we feel that the work has reached a point where it isn’t keeping us happy but causing stress. At Famous, we have breakthrough sessions where we play housie, charades, or listen to international award-winning creatives, every Friday to just forget about work, connect with each other, and enjoy a day without worries. I hope agencies find ways like these to keep their employees motivated during this tough phase. Because at the end of the day, our work is a reflection of us. And if we don't feel great, the work won't be as great,” shared Kadam. Nazim Ahmed (name changed) said it isn’t just agencies that need to put their foot down if their client pressurises. The whole industry has to come together to flag off toxic clients. He explained, “We're at gunpoint from the client’s side. The industry should take a collective stand and refuse to be treated this way. They will say they will move on to the next agency but that shouldn’t happen. The next agency should put their foot down and say we heard you treated your previous agency poorly and we don’t want to be on your side. It should be a chain reaction. Just like the credit card industry, we should blacklist clients that exploit agencies for pitches - they call 100 agencies and take the best ideas to the agency that charges the least. No agency should participate in those pitches. We need to stand together, everyone is fighting for survival after all.” Ogilvy’s Narayan reminded in his LinkedIn post that the advertising industry doesn’t save lives. Its job is to sell products, which can wait. He wrote, "The thing is, advertising isn't as important as people in the industry make it out to be. We are not out there curing bloody cancer. At best, we are trying to convince people to choose a fancier hospital through messages that often create false hope. That's about it. We might be needed, but we aren't indispensable. We might be creative, but we are not artists. We might be necessary, but we are not that important. So slow down. It's just a job. Treat it like that.” Update: The DDB Mudra Group reached out to us and spoke to us about the issue and the responsibility that agencies play in addressing it as well as coming up with effective solutions. Aditya Kanthy, CEO &amp; MD, DDB Mudra Group said, “The first step is to acknowledge that stress, burn-out and work-life balance is a problem and has been for some time. It is simply not acceptable to say that this is how things are and we should just live with it. We also have to understand that it is a complex problem and there isn’t a silver bullet to solve it. While, we have put in place policies which help our employees cope better, such as the Employee Assistance Program which provides free mental health counselling for all our people; compulsory leave to help them switch off; and tools like Asana and Sunday Trackers to help manage and safeguard their time; but we know that policies can only do so much. We get the outcomes we want when everyone involved makes a serious effort to change. This includes a push from our side in building a culture of empathy and transparency that empowers our employees to voice their issues, ask tough questions of us and assert their life choices beyond work. It also includes bringing our clients into the conversations, setting boundaries and building partnerships with mutual respect for each other’s time. We’ve got to hold hands on this one and make it better one step at a time - every moment, every day.”

As advertising lost another young life to work stress, are agencies still refusing to acknowledge that burn-out is a real issue in the industry?

<ul><li>With Mother’s Day around the corner, we reached out to the <keyword id="53257" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="working-mothers">working mothers</keyword> from the advertising industry to find out how they are dealing with quarantine blues and their kids being at home 24 hours. </li><li>They also shared with us some policy ideas that they wish the industry could take into consideration and help them juggle smoothly between work and household chores. </li></ul>In wake of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting lockdown, juggling between both work and home life has taken an even bigger toll on working moms. They have always been swamped but now that the entire family is under one roof, we can only imagine what a storm that must look like. Working parents have lost the privileges of ‘me time’ as there is no external help from grandparents, nannies or schools to share their load. They are also home-schooling while working as the CEO of their houses. And to top that up, they are dealing with work pressure, anxiety and waves of guilt for not being able to spend quality time with their kids despite being house arrested. While husbands have started shouldering the parenting responsibilities in India, the task of planning, organizing and supervising if everything is in place, comes with a mental load on women. With Mother’s Day around the corner, we reached out to some working mothers of the advertising industry to find out how they are multitasking during this quarantine period, a few policies they wish companies could introduce to help them juggle smoothly between household chores and work, and how is it they wished companies would help them cope up with anxiety and stress. Here is what these superwomen had to say: Rachana Lokhande, Co-CEO of Kinetic India and mother of a son: <div type="image" title="Rachana Lokhande, Mother and CEO" msid="75609058" hostid="261"></div> We are almost seven weeks into the lockdown and we will be into the lockdown for a few more weeks. And I'm sure most of them are working mothers multitasking -- juggling between household chores, traveling between office work managing kids, managing their studies, cooking, baking, cleaning, mopping, and everything. In the first few days, all the family members came together and said that "oh now that we are in the household together, we are going to help each other and we are going to distribute work and all" but all the euphoria, believe me, has died down and the ownership is back on us, to take care of many of the things if not all. While everybody is talking about how ‘managers need to be empathizing with their situation by being more sensitive.’ But I think more than all, what we require is having a mature conversation. Transparency and trust is what we need more than anything else. Having those transparent mature conversations with your managers or with your family, explaining them, what is the situation you are in? You need to listen to them and understand what their demands are. And what are the basics that need to be fulfilled. And then sitting together and prioritizing is the most important thing. I mean, that will build trust in all the relationships that we have. That is more important right now. If we have this conversation, and if we set our expectations right, between all the stakeholders currently in our life, our family and organizations or our managers, we will be able to prioritize our work and we will be able to better at everything. Multitasking is definitely not a solution for anything, because it will only end us up in stress and guilt. But prioritizing, setting timelines for all the work, everybody being on the same page, will help you deliver your hundred percent to each of the tasks that you do. And of course, organization should continue with Flexible Working Policy, work from home as a policy should continue. Organizations should also look at evaluating the matrix to ensure that it is more objective and more delivery-oriented. Rest, Happy <keyword id="6408068" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mothers-Day">Mother's Day</keyword> to all stay safe, stay healthy. Priya Balan, Executive Director, Mullen Lintas and mother of two kids: <div type="image" title="Priya Balan" msid="75609182" hostid="261"></div> Well, truth be told, I'm actually managing quite well. I have begun to enjoy this new way of working. And I seem to have found something, a rhythm that works quite efficiently for me, for my family and for work. It was all very overwhelming in the beginning when it just felt like your whole world order had collapsed and you're sitting in the middle of it all trying to be in different places at the same time. Multitasking, you have work, you have the children to be taken care of. There is the kitchen and there are various other domestic chores that need to be tied up. But I guess, a week into this new way of life I found my groove and that seems to be working very well. I think for me, one of the big positives of this lockdown is the fact that I'm able to be a more active weekday, ma'am. Which otherwise is not something that I end up doing. Because of the nature of my work. The fact that I'm home today when the kids finished their online school is lovely. No longer is it just a phone call to ask them how their day was, but the fact that we can actually hug and cuddle when they come back from school. It's a nice, sweet thing. Of course, there are lots of challenges; some days are great. There are some days that are not so good and there are some days that you just can't wait for them to get over. But I think given the circumstances we are in, given the need to opt for this kind of Working system. I think I am quite happy and I could actually do this for a little while more happily. If this is going to be a new way of life and living and working, I'm sure those policies will come into place. But once the policies do come into place, I think the onus of making the system work lies equally with the employee as much as it lies with the employer. I think there has to be a certain sanctity to working hours, as much as sanctity to family time is going to be expected. So otherwise, I see productivity could get marred in the long run. Also, the other thing I find funny is that you have all lost track of days, and there are lots of public holidays and bank holidays which otherwise would be holidays for us. Today, one doesn't even think twice before picking up a phone call or setting up a meeting. I think some discipline in what is going to qualify for working hours and working days will have to come in for this overall thing to work. Anjali Malthankar, National Strategy Director, Tonic Worldwide and mother of a daughter: <div type="image" title="Anjali, Tonic" msid="75609292" hostid="261"></div> Honestly, this quarantine period has been a seesaw. Some days are really high, some days are difficult. First 10 days were chaotic -- nobody knew what to expect from each other. My daughter, Tara, thought I was on a vacation and wanted my 100% attention. And, you know, when her homeschooling started, her timings used to clash with my morning meeting timings, and how much ever I would try to kind of set her up, she would invariably video bomb into my meetings, and it was getting very difficult. And I think that's where this whole flexibility aspect kind of comes into play. Tonic has always been very supportive and always been flexible. When it comes to these things, so soon enough, I realize how to kind of manage that. I think flexibility is the only policy that really can help mothers. So when we work in the office, when we say flexibility we mean work from home as an option. And when it comes to work from home, I think flexibility means maybe shifting a few meeting timings or being tolerant with the video bombing. And I think the rest, mothers can manage. I haven’t experienced anxiety related to work. But as a mother, I worry about my child's future and how their learning is going to be, and when she will get to meet her friends, when she will get to step out and experience things -- the way it should be. And some days, when you feel low and you want to kind of talk to someone, when the work culture is supportive, it really helps. You need to give that space to kind of speak your mind and feel vulnerable, that it's okay to feel low some days. I think that kind of support is always something that can help. Mitushi Verma, VP, FCB Interface and mother of daughter: <div type="image" title="Mitushi fcb" msid="75609252" hostid="261"></div> These are times like we have never experienced earlier. So it certainly is going to be an effort every day to adapt to the new normal. For the child it is a dream come true to have mom at home, at their disposal. But that also means that they want their undivided attention. They are not being able to understand why is mom at home and yet she is not. What helps, is to explain to them how it works and make them a part of the schedule. We are now not only working from home but also working for home, non -stop 24*7. I think companies are doing their best to make it as smooth for their employees as possible. However, being able to discuss work on calls has meant that sometimes work flows way beyond working hours or that calls get scheduled at a time a when there are other household duties waiting to be done. It would really help if at an individual level we are all a bit more empathetic towards the rather hectic schedules of working moms. It was really heartening to receive communication from the agency that simply said that they understand how it is to work from home. That it is ok if kids popped up in video calls to say hello! That it is okay if you stepped out to attend to a wailing baby! It is OK!!! Feels good to be understood! At work, a colleague introduced me to the concept of “mental load or emotional labor”,that women carry worldwide. Simply put what it means is that women always have lot more things on their mind, to do. So it’s not just about the physical load of doing the things, but also the mental load—the task of orchestration and project management which still falls disproportionately on women, mostly. So effectively, their mind is never ever free. This has only increased during the current times as there is a lot more to do and to get done. One is always on tenterhooks about someone in the family especially the kid, falling sick during these times. To be given access to doctors through Doctor 24*7 app, by the agency, is reassuring and much appreciated, to say the least. Rituparna Dasgupta, Vice President - Strategy and Analytics, Mindshare India and mother of two sons: <div type="image" title="Ritu, Mindshare" msid="75609321" hostid="261"></div> As a mother of two young energetic boys and the chief operating officer at home and the strategist at work, it’s surely a quick juggle between roles during a typical day. This is perhaps for the first time it has happened that both partners are at home along with children with reduced help for such a long duration. This is the opportune time for gender equality to be truly lived. And employers are a critical part of this behaviour change. Flexible work hours and mandatory breakfast and lunch breaks could make this juggle a smooth ride, especially for reducing the breakfast and lunchtime workload when the family is generally having meals together. There could be a no meetings policy in the 8-9:30 am or 1-2 pm time bands. Most schools are running e-learning sessions for children and probably not all families have personal laptops/computers. Companies could allow employees to use their official laptops to enable continuity of learning for their children. With always-on unsettling news blaring, disheartening projections of the economic impact of COVID-19 and to top it up, kids fussing about food and getting cranky due to this long lockdown, it’s only natural to experience anxiety and frustration at times. However, not giving vent and letting this build-up within oneself can have serious consequences on both mental and physical health. Companies could support employees through virtual counselling sessions with professionals, laughter yoga sessions, breathing exercises or something like a date with an anonymous agony aunt for simply venting out and shedding the load! A pep-talk with one’s manager, senior leadership or someone from the company’s talent team could also have a positive and comforting impact on the employee. Chanda Sarma, Regional Head-Operations(North), WATConsult and mother of two kids: <div type="image" title="Watconsult - Mother" msid="75609336" hostid="261"></div> Quarantine has not been easy for anyone and perhaps is slightly more difficult for mothers with young kids. Household chores and professional responsibilities clubbed with a time when kids are completely homebound is a struggle. However, based on my personal experience, co-workers and clients both have been an extension to our families and extremely understanding. Not even once has taking a feeding or diaper break been a challenge and nobody seems to mind a baby gurgling in the background either. I have always been in the camp for flexible timings but for once I feel what we really need are fixed timings. With coordination efforts being on the rise and personal efficiencies being at an all time high, the boundaries of work hours and post-work hours have been blurred significantly. The week is largely divided into work hours, screen time and sleep hours and an official cut off from work should be defined. For anyone who has an extremely active lifestyle, anxiety is not unnatural. I have been extremely lucky to have found coworkers who constantly check on each other and at WATConsult, our days have been filled with a lot of training sessions which go beyond the trade and are focused on our well-being and holistic living. Having attended quite a few of these, I actually feel this should be a norm, quarantine or not. Pragati Chavan, Director- Corporate Communications, DDB Mudra Group and mother of a daughter: <div type="image" title="Pragati, DDB" msid="75609365" hostid="261"></div> The hardest thing about this pandemic is the uncertainty it has brought with it. Having a support system is important at the best of times, and crucial in these testing times. At the cost of sounding like an acceptance speech, my husband, in-laws and colleagues have supported me fully to manage work, childcare, and running a household as best as possible. We share all the household duties, childcare responsibilities and everything else in between. As a parent to a toddler who’s entered terrible twos in full gusto, and as a busy working professional, routine is my best friend. There are days when everything’s going according to plan and on some days it's complete chaos. But for someone who’s a stickler for planning, being comfortable with the unstructured parts of my day is a huge learning experience for me. Guess there’s some silver lining after all. Currently, people are not working from home, they are working from home during a crisis. It’s an important distinction for companies to recognise. Luckily for me, my company has been extremely flexible and quick in framing policies that really look after working moms like me. Simple policies like no calls during 1-3 p.m. and following clear boundaries between work and home on weekends is a life-saver. During this lockdown, my parents are in a different location than me. So in addition to the stress of maintaining a work routine and looking after our own health, I am constantly anxious about my parents. During such times, more than policies, it is genuine empathy that helps. This, in turn, is driven by corporate culture. I’ve had colleagues offer to check in on my parents and to help with emergencies, which is really touching. Our HR team has also been proactively reaching out to everyone on a weekly basis.

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