Are We Stuck in the Past with Attendance Policies When Results Matter More?

With more companies shifting to hybrid and remote-first environments, many Indian organizations still cling to outdated attendance systems'biometric check-ins, Excel trackers, or app-based logins. Yet, employees argue that these tools measure presence, not productivity. In one Gurugram-based startup, a top-performing developer was issued a warning for irregular attendance despite exceeding all deliverables. The HR team stood by policy, but the leadership was forced to review its approach after the story spread internally. Are we measuring the wrong things in a world where results matter more than time spent?

If the company or the leaders of the company are interested only in deliverables, then why don't they engage platform or gig employees?

From the employees' side, they prefer to be employees on the rolls of the company rather than being on a platform. This is because platform work does not garner respect from society; they will not even get financial assistance from a bank. However, if their salary slip contains a fixed salary and allowances with PF and income tax deductions at a uniform rate and amounts, it will look pretty good.

Will the employees who argue that they will provide deliverables but cannot adhere to the attendance policy accept an offer/appointment order which states that they will be paid based on output? NO. For salaries and benefits, they would require the HR to follow the laws relating to it. They fail to understand that attendance is also part of the law, and time-based remuneration should only be linked to attendance and not to output.

Therefore, it is up to the employees to decide whether they require piece-rate wages or time wages......!!

Remote Work and Attendance Systems in the IT Sector

The concept of remote work predominantly applies to the IT sector. Allotting work based on skillset or knowledge is also relevant to this sector. The task-based allotment of work is a recent phenomenon in the IT industry. Therefore, the rigid rules of the attendance system could be relaxed in the IT sector in the future, but such relaxation will remain restricted to just a few companies. The entire IT sector will not eliminate the attendance system.

Necessity of Physical Presence in Manufacturing and Services Sectors

In the manufacturing and services sectors, people must be available at the workplace. Services cannot be provided to customers unless specific people are available at a specific place and time. In the manufacturing sector, machines cannot operate independently; they need to be operated by people. Thus, personnel are required on the shop floor as well.

Thanks,

Regards,
Dinesh Divekar