Hope builds on visible signs of the old normal; offices start opening up

Activity picks up in restaurants, shops

A sense of optimism is in the air. The year, which started on a grim note because of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, is now beginning to hold promise. Slowly, hopefully, yet cautiously, the world around us is starting to open up. Offices, restaurants, hotels and shopping centres, all are seeing greater activity – though some more than the others.

The Indian IT sector, which was among the first to adopt the work-from-home (WFH) model and still has close to 96 per cent of its employees working remotely, given the robust tech support, is now chalking out modalities to get the staff back in office.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which employs over 556,986 people, intends to have its employees back in office in the coming months. “We are already encouraging our associates to return to their respective offices and deputed branches,” said Milind Lakkad, chief human resources officer (CHRO), TCS. The company has said it is committed to its 25-by-25 model, which will require no more than 25 per cent of its associates to work from office at any given point in time, and spend no more than 25 per cent of their time in office. “An important part of the journey to the 25/25 model is to first bring people back to physical offices and gradually transition into the hybrid work model,” Lakkad said.

Infosys, while still cautious, is also looking to bring the buzz back to its offices. “Over the next few weeks, we will ease the restrictions we had placed in limiting office access to only essential employees and go back to our model of voluntary return to work,” said Richard Lobo, executive VP, head HR, Infosys. “Infosys campuses and offices in India (and outside) were opened for employees to return on a voluntary basis in July 2021.” The company will make use of smart scheduling of spaces as well as campus zoning to ensure social distancing and contact tracing.

Going forward, the clear trend, however, is hybrid. “We expect a hybrid model in which 40-50 per cent of employees are likely to work from office after subsequent phases of return-to-office,” Lobo said. Over the next 3-4 months, if the situation stays stable, infection rates are low, and vaccination is higher, we will have a larger percentage of our workforce returning. But we expect to operate in a hybrid mode for most of the coming year. It’s very difficult to predict for the long term because it has been a changing situation and things will evolve,” he added.

Among the other IT majors, Bengaluru-headquartered Wipro has asked its senior employees to return to office by early March, though for only a couple of days in a week. And Cognizant hopes to have its staff operating from office, although on a voluntary basis, by April.

Early January, the JSW group had started operating at 50 per cent capacity at its Mumbai offices, given the surge in Omicron cases. But last week, its employees got an advisory that the company was reverting to full capacity across its offices.

At ITC, meanwhile, office presence across cities is limited to 30 per cent or below based on local conditions. “We are periodically reviewing the situation. If the current trend continues, the next week should see us enhance office presence,” said Amitav Mukherji, head, Corporate Human Resources, ITC Ltd. Early January, ITC had revised its policy, and office presence in the National Capital Region, Mumbai and Kolkata was only by exception and if essential.

In Gujarat, co-working space provider, The Address, which has properties in Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat, had seen occupancy levels dip to 33 per cent during the peak of the third wave though rentals were coming in. “In the last couple of weeks, the occupancy levels are up to 85 per cent, and getting better,” said Yash Shah, founder, The Address.

In Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to lift all restrictions in the coming months, though no official announcement has been made yet. And Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope has sought information from the central and state Covid-19 task forces on measures to be adopted to make the state “mask-free” at the earliest.

As confidence builds, Sun Pharma, the country’s largest drug-maker by market share, is allowing its employees in the corporate head office in Mumbai to come in twice a week till mid-February, after which it will review the situation. GSK, too, has allowed employees in its corporate offices to report to work. And Glenmark is following a three-day in office model. Ahmedabad-based Torrent Pharmaceuticals said it’s also in a back-to-office mode with all the necessary precautions.

Corporate offices of some large companies in Mumbai are, however, not rushing to call their employees back in full force. Most of them, including Tata Motors, Mahindra Group and Larsen & Toubro, are continuing to follow the flexi work policy or hybrid model for the time being. But their executives have been undertaking essential business travel since the second wave receded.

In Tamil Nadu, too, “most organisations are following a hybrid approach with 50 per cent people coming to office,” said Suresh Krishnamurthy, CEO, India Cements Capital. “A complete back-to-office approach will take at least another three months. MSMEs and other service sector players are, however, asking everyone to return because of lower staff strength and for better coordination.”

Glass half full

On Thursday, the Gujarat government relaxed the night curfew by three hours (from 10pm-6am to 12am-5am) in the top eight cities including Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot. While capacity is capped at 75 per cent, hotels and restaurants in the state can now remain open till 11pm instead of 10pm, along with shopping complexes, street kiosks, spas and salons. Home delivery services are allowed 24x7.

During the peak of the third wave, business was down to 40 per cent of normal times and restaurants temporarily reduced staff strength by 10-20 per cent, said Narendra Somani, president, Gujarat chapter of Hotels and Restaurants Association (HRA). Now “business should be back to normal, also because people too are less apprehensive,” he said.

Gujarat has some 40,000 restaurants, of which 10,000-odd are in Ahmedabad alone.

“We have seen a considerable improvement in walk-ins in the past two weeks,” said Pradeep Shetty, joint honorary secretary, Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI). From an almost lockdown-like situation in the first week of January when walk-ins had dropped to 10 per cent, they’ve now hit almost 50 per cent, he added.

In some states like Tamil Nadu, however, the industry is still waiting for things to pick up. K T Srinivasa Raja, promoter of the famous Adyar Ananda Bhavan restaurant chain, said the third wave, the 9pm deadline and the 50 per cent occupancy rules on dining out are continuing to impact business. According to an industry estimate, some 30,000 restaurants in Tamil Nadu have shut down in the last two years.

Retail therapy

Shoppers, meanwhile, are heading out more confidently. Car and two-wheeler dealerships, deserted during the Omicron wave, are seeing more walk-ins, said Vinkesh Gulati, president, Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA). “Walk-ins are up 15-20 per cent at car and 10-15 per cent at two-wheeler dealerships,” he added.

The retail sector is in for a better time with restrictions lifted across various states (except in Delhi and Haryana), said Kumar Gopalan, CEO at Retailers Association of India, urging Delhi and Haryana to accelerate the return to normalcy.

“While restrictions in Delhi continue, the number of people visiting our malls has gone up to 80-90 per cent of what we saw in December,” said Pushpa Bector, executive director, DLF Retail. “Once the government lifts restrictions, we expect visits to be higher than pre-Covid levels.”

Shivani Shinde, Shally Seth Mohile, Vinay Umarji, Ishita Ayan Dutt, Sohini Das, Shine Jacob & Sharleen D’Souza contributed to this report