Shift tweak to carpool help desks, corporates try to even the odds

Gurgaon: The city's corporates have odd-even plans in place, and have been exploring ways to make the daily commute easier for their employees, even as residents try to figure out how to tackle Delhi government's googly.
While many firms are offering suggestions to employees, others are happy to leave it open for individuals to choose whether they want to use a cab, shuttle bus or car-pool.
When it comes to initiatives, Nagarro is always a first-mover. For the convenience of its employees, the software firm has set two shift timings - 8am to 5pm, and 9am to 6pm - to work around the rule.
In fact, in the wake of Car Free Day, Nagarro had come up with a website for its staff, which would work for the first half of January. "Employees can share their routes and also communicate with fellow workers to pool cars," said Megha Jha of Nagarro. Cairn India Limited is encouraging employees to take to car-pooling, shuttle services and public transport.
"To make carpooling policy stronger in the company, we'd introduced an automated help desk, which maintains a database for employees to pool cars. Now, it will also list even- and odd-numbered cars for pooling," said a spokesperson.
At Yatra.com, convenience and bonding are positives from carpooling. "We're encouraging employees to form their own car pools, which is not only convenient for them but also helps enhance camaraderie," said Pragya Kumar, HR head.
At Genpact, the odd-even rule has given momentum to its policy of encouraging carpools. "Odd-even has allowed us to step up our focus on car-pools," said Mohit Thukral, vice-president, Genpact. "We're getting people to travel more on Metro too." The firm has increased frequency of its shuttle services to and from Metro stations.