Indian IT Firms, Startups Plan To End Work From Home; This Is How Employees Will Return To Office?

The Indian organizations are once again in a biggest dilemma to call or not to call employees back to work. 

While some organizations like Facebook and Twitter believe in working from home, some believe in working from the office such as J P Morgan.

At this point, when the country is facing the second wave of pandemic, let’s find out what Indian tech industries are planning to do once the government starts the unlocking process.

Reopening Offices

Now, many leaders and HR heads are looking forward to safely opening up offices as soon as possible. 

The Co-founder & CEO, MediBuddy, Satish Kannan said, “Working from offices will not only help increase the productivity, coordination and collaboration amongst the employees but also help them socialise and stay connected with their peers. By following all the precautionary methods, you can not only safeguard employee’s physical health but also improve their mental health,”.

Another opinion was provided by the CEO and Founder of GuruQ, a home-tutoring platform, Minal Anand said, “I believe it is important for us to be back to the office because when we are working from the office together, there is a different level of coordination, communication and a spirit of teamwork,”.

So far, several employees have been able to adapt to work from home without hurting productivity. 

Although, apart from leaders, many employees also want to be back in the office, due to personal and professional reasons, as mentioned by Chetan Yadav, the Chief People Officer at Tally Solutions.

Vaccination Drives

At present, lots of tech companies are conducting vaccination drives to make the workplace safe for employees. 

Under this plan, more than 50 % of Acer India’s employees have taken their first dose of vaccination. 

The Senior Director-HR, Acer India, Bhasker Bhandary said, “We are encouraging the remaining employees to complete the vaccination process at the earliest. By the end of July 2021, we are hopeful of completing 100 % vaccination across the organisation,”.

Further adding, “completion of the vaccination process will be the top priority at this point of time to ensure everyone’s safety,”. 

Tally has provided WFH till September 01 and in the meantime, it is getting all employees vaccinated. 

Apart from these many IT companies like TCS, Wipro, Infosys, Cognizant have also started vaccination for their employees.

Checking Readiness To Return-to-work 

Many firms are looking to re-open based on internal surveys regarding the comfort and requirements of individuals and teams, with feedback from the leadership team. 

Regarding the same, the Chief of Staff at LogiNext, Neetha Thomas said, “we’d be slowly opening up the office for whoever wants to work from the office, and a lot of decisions will be taken on a month to month basis depending on how things shape up,”. 

The company has come up with a protocol for smooth transitioning from home to office. It includes 

• At the entrance check Arogya Setu app and travel history 
• Hand sanitiser installation at multiple locations
• Daily cleaning and sanitisation of desks, chairs and all key areas 
• A designated quarantine area for isolating employees if someone falls sick  
• Organizing awareness sessions for employees
• Temperature screening at the entrance the office
• Doctor’s availability

Hybrid Working Model

Some companies are thinking of resuming working from offices while some believe in following Google’s footsteps, by considering a hybrid model workplace. 

According to this, around 60% of the employees would come together in the office a few days every week.

While, another 20% would work in new office locations, and the remaining 20% would work from home. 

One of such companies, Acer, has settled into a “hybrid” model. 

According to this company, “This will offer the flexibility that employees need to balance work with taking care of themselves and also meeting the organisation requirement,”.

In all this happening, instead of hurrying in opening the offices, organizations should wait till the employees get their second doses and their immunity builds to fight the future infections as the third wave is already on its way.