What’s the new normal like for women

With the new COVID-19 variant quashing any hopes of returning to offices anytime soon, will 2022 see renewed conversations around flexible work arrangements?

Thursday January 06, 2022 , 3 min Read

With the new COVID-19 variant quashing any hopes of returning to offices anytime soon, will 2022 see renewed conversations around flexible work arrangements? And, how have these hybrid offices been able to accommodate women?

A year ago, YourStory’s Future of Work conference deliberated on whether the new normal has empowered the women workforce and helped them seamlessly divide their time between work and home.

Now, as new restrictions come into place to contain the Omicron variant, YourStory presents voices from the industry on the future of work for women.

While on one hand, the pandemic has helped women access new career opportunities from the comfort of home, it has also led to burnout as work seeps into personal space.

“For corporate India, hybrid is the new way to work. But that is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it means women get the flexibility they need, and on the other hand, if they choose that, it puts them at a slight disadvantage vis-à-vis those in office. The only way forward for organisations is to make hybrid more seamless and equitable,” says Deepshikha Dharmaraj, Chief Executive Officer - BCW India Group.

The Interview

Begin your startup journey by assessing market size with Sequoia India’s Aakash Kapoor. Can you build a really big company? Are there enough people in your target market who face the same problem your startup aims to solve?

Editor’s Pick: 100X Entrepreneur Podcast

Over its decade-long journey, WebEngage has seen it all — from pivots to three potential buyouts. In this week’s 100X Entrepreneur Podcast, Avlesh Singh, Founder and CEO of WebEngage, speaks about factors determining the success of pivots and entrepreneurial lessons learned the hard way.

Startup Spotlight

Customising deep-tech drones

Launched in 2018 by Manas Upadhyay (26) and Avinash Chandra Pal (28), Dehradun-based DTown Robotics provides drones and robots with customised requirements.

The startup currently focuses on the agricultural and defence sector and has created use cases across fields like drones to scan fields with night and day vision, and robots and drones for security, survey, cinematography, among others. Read more.

News & Updates

In an internal email to the team, Udaan, the B2B ecommerce unicorn, said it raised $200 million through convertible note, which was oversubscribed by 2X. The round saw five new investors, which the company did not name. It also stated that it has raised $50 million through debt.

The Good Glamm Group, which entered the coveted unicorn club last year, stated that its platforms — Plixxo, Miss Malini, Winkl, and Vidooly — have spun off to create the Good Creator Co (GCC). With this announcement, The Good Glamm Group has made stealth mode acquisitions of Winkl and Vidooly.

Popularly known as ‘Anathanchi Maye’ or ‘Mother of orphans’, Pune’s Sindhutai Sapkal, who raised more than 1,000 orphaned children in her lifetime, breathed her last at a private hospital in Pune on Tuesday.

Before you go, stay inspired with…

Our society's response to the pandemic has all the imprints of design thinking – human-centred, collaborative, rapid prototyping, testing, and iteration.