Source: French to English Tester Published on: 2026-04-07
Source: The Conversation – in French– By Vivek Soundararajan, Professor of Work and Equality, University of Bath
Millions of Indian specialists working for foreign companies perform their profession from home, which entails many constraints: small housing often shared with numerous relatives, Internet outages, erasure of personal life due to professional responsibilities… A recent survey provides a comprehensive overview of this little-known aspect of the global economy.
Indian computer scientists ensure a large part of the proper functioning of information technology services worldwide. It is very likely that they are the ones managing, for example, your company’s technical support service or responding to the questions you send to technical chat services about the latest gadget you purchased.
These computer scientists often work from their homes. In the major technological hubs of India, such asBangalore, Chennai or Hyderabad, many professionals work in cramped apartments filled with backup power systems that they have had to finance themselves.
Although most employees work for some of the largest companies in the world, theresearch that I have conducted with my colleaguesshow that their working conditions are often far from satisfactory.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the whole world has discovered the advantages and disadvantages of teleworking. For some people, the shift to a hybrid or even fully remote work mode can represent a form of autonomy and freedom. But this is not the case for everyone. So, what does working from home really look like for the five million IT professionals in India who ensure the operation of the technological infrastructures of large Western companies?
A glaring lack of space
One of the main challenges concerns space. In India, more than half of the population lives with itsextended family. Among the 51 employees we interviewed, many share their housing with their children, parents, grandparents, or in-laws – all gathered in small apartments that now serve as offices.
For them, teleworking means having to reorganize family cohabitation in a limited space, so that they can have a quiet place to work.
During videoconferences, maintaining a professional environment becomes a challenge in these homes that often have only two bedrooms, where crying babies and sick grandparents coexist in the same room.
Some people we interviewed also play the role of caregiver for their relatives: balancing these responsibilities is then particularly complex. They describe significant repercussions on family life, with disorganized meals and evenings regularly disrupted by professional calls.
But the greatest challenge undoubtedly concerns the basic infrastructure. TheInternet outagesare frequent in Indian cities. The Internet connection, shared among several household members who work or study from home, is often unstable.
We met many IT professionals who do the same work as their counterparts in London or San Francisco. To stay connected, they had to invest themselves in backup power systems. During home visits, we saw batteries installed on their balconies, in corridors, or at the entrance of their homes. A suitable device – allowing to power a laptop, a router, or a fan during outages – can cost up to 460 euros, or roughly the equivalent of one month’s net salary for a young professional in the sector.
At the same time, personal use of the Internet is limited. Television schedules are reorganized based on professional calls. Most meetings are audio-only, with video reserved for special occasions.
In addition to these material constraints, there is sometimes professional surveillance that even intrudes into the home. A 33-year-old employee explained to us that his company’s computer system “calculates the number of hours worked and the websites visited,” and that any anomaly “automatically triggers a message sent to his superior.”
This monitoring can sometimes prove absurd. During power outages – which are nevertheless frequent – some employees have to provide proof of it. “My boss told me: Go out and take photos from your home to send them to me. He wanted proof,” tells us a 28-year-old engineer.
A growing protest
These frustrations do not go unheard. In 2025, hundreds of employees in the IT sector aredescended into the streets of Bangalore, brandishing placards on which one could read “We are not your slaves”, in order to claim alegal right to disconnect.
When the government announced its intention to extend the maximum working day from ten to twelve hours,new demonstrationshave broken out. To date, the IT sector in India still remains largely excluded from certain labor law protections, and no right to disconnect has yet been enshrined in law.
A central aspect of these mobilizations concerns inequalities in workplaces, which have simply shifted from offices to homes. By reducing their expenses related to offices, charges, and equipment, companies are saving money. But these costs have not disappeared for all that: now, it is the employees and their families who pay them instead.
In some countries, this may be limited to the purchase of an office. But for many Indian professionals we met, this means investing in backup electricity solutions, rationing Internet usage, completely reorganizing life at home, and thus coping with an increased mental load related to work without any real boundary – all in a context of often failing infrastructure.
A developer based in Bangalore, with the same skills as another in Boston, does not experience the same reality of remote work at all. If remote work is to fulfill its promises, companies and public decision-makers must recognize that “working from home” encompasses profoundly different realities depending on where one lives — and depending on who bears the invisible costs that make this system function.
Vivek Soundararajan received funding from the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) agency.
–ref. The demanding working conditions of Indian IT professionals serving international companies –https://theconversation.com/the-grueling-working-conditions-of-indian-computer-scientists-working-for-international-companies-278686