Why?

The technology to work from home has been available for quite some time. What has changed because of Covid-19 is every company's perception of working from home. There is widespread acknowledgement that for most IT companies, the productivity levels have not changed drastically. Many large companies also have now announced that they may not be going back to 100% office strength ever. Sridhar Vembu (CEO, Zoho Corp whose ideas and philosophy were the inspiration that got us to launch) has pushed the envelope even further stating that Zoho will have about 10 village offices in Tamil Nadu in a bid to encourage employees to work from their hometown. RusticWork is a logical extension of this idea - the hub and spoke office model is possible for larger companies but for smaller companies (employee count-wise), the spokes can be RusticWork offices.

Policy makers have also been willing to fund rural projects on a war footing recently. The next big development push is going to come from urban folks returning back to rural/semi-urban areas to experience the the pristine environment (and give that back to their children). We hope RusticWork becomes the launchpad for a future that is much more equitable to all and kinder to the environment.

Some of the indirect benefits that we hope will materialise -

• Inspire thousands of new startups that will be razor-focused on solving local problems - be it bringing AI/ML know-how to your local coffee processing factory or marketing amazing local products like Golden Milk better using digital media and helping discover new markets

• More women will stay in the workforce - this elevates their status in rural areas and brings true gender equality

• Cross pollination of ideas from various fields

• More engagement of academia with industry - many rural colleges struggle to give exposure to their students because a working professional in a city does not want to travel on a weekend away from family

• Local language translation of some amazing Internet content that helps solidify basic learning

• More professionals will be willing to participate in social causes that are near them and that they can clearly identify with

• Better support and healthcare for ageing parents

• Stronger assimilation of local culture and values

Our survey is still open, we would be happy to hear from you on what you would need to work from a shared workspace in a rural setting. If this mission motivates you, please write back to us at info@rusticwork.in, we'd be happy to channelise your skills, passion and energy. As the saying goes, it takes a crowd. If this does work out, we would look back at this moment as the start of the Knowledge Diffusion project and the beginning of a new self reliant India which can house complex industrial knowledge and technical know-how in its hinterland.