Kolkata: Attendance at work in the IT offices across Sector V and New Town remained high despite transport challenges on Monday, when the ruling Trinamool organized its Martyrs’ Day rally. The operations remained unaffected as many of these companies allowed the employees to ‘work from home’ (WFH) for the day. Thus, high percentage of physical attendance at workplace along with WFH option kept things going as usual in the IT offices. Most of the IT offices in the tech hub recorded an average of 75% physical attendance as many preferred to conveniently work from their homes, said Sector V Stakeholders Association vice president, Kalyan Kar.Employees of BPOs and call centers had no option but to come to the office. But many working in IT firms or part of IT development teams opted for WFH.“I and some of my colleagues worked from home due to lack of transport options,” said a senior employee of a multinational (MNC) IT firm. Another senior IT executive said employees who attended office physically had their own transport arrangements. “But several others avail the public transport. Thus they preferred to work from home,” he added.Only a few buses were plying on the road. Most of the roadside eateries in Salt Lake and New Town were closed as there were fewer people on the streets. Some stores and eateries, surrounding RDB Boulevard Mall — the most happening place in Sector V with the pedestrian plaza — were open to cater to the floating commuters.Many went to the office in the early hours to avoid getting stuck in traffic congestion. “Some of my colleagues chose to skip office travel in view of traffic difficulties, and others returned early to continue working from home,” said Biswajit Majumder, a senior IT employee working at Gitanjali Park.Kajol Karmakar, a private company employee and resident of Jadavpur, who travelled to his office on his bike, started for work early and managed to reach office on time amid congestion worries.While public transports options remained limited, employees like GV Shurvi, who works in a retail store in Sector V, hired app bikes to commute to work. She took the ride from her Howrah Shibpur home.
