India Inc busy with back-to-office drill as Covid-19 cases decline

Employees are returning to offices, but many companies are continuing to offer the remote, flexi-work option

With a sharp decline in the rate of Covid-19 infections, companies across sectors that had switched to work from home, are now ready to welcome their employees back to office. However, there is a clear divide emerging amongst sectors — between those that want 100 per cent of their employees to work from office, and those, led by the IT companies and startups, that are opting for a hybrid workplace model.

In early January, during the surge in Omicron cases, the JSW Group started operating with 50 per cent of its employees at its offices in Mumbai, while the rest worked from home. But from the first week of February, the company is working at full capacity in its offices. “We are now back to operating the way we did in March 2020,” said a JSW source.

Similarly, till February end, ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India) was operating with 30 per cent of its staff at its plants and corporate offices. However, from March 1, its offices are working at 100 per cent capacity. “Everything is back to normal,” an AM/NS India official said. Normal business travel has also resumed.  

Tobacco-to-hotels major ITC, too, has ramped up its office presence across locations to two-thirds, effective March. It was limited to 30 per cent earlier.

The pharmaceutical industry is no different, with most of the companies back to office now, after a brief work-from-home spell in January during the third wave of the pandemic. 

Jayesh Desai, executive director at Torrent Group, which has a presence in power and pharmaceuticals, said that since June last year, the company had started asking its employees to return to office while maintaining the usual safety precautions. “We have noticed that employees prefer to work from the office as then there is a clear demarcation of work and personal time, and work gets done swiftly,” Desai told Business Standard.  

One change that the pandemic has brought about is that now most cross-city meetings are done virtually. “Earlier, we used to travel more between cities. Now we prefer virtual meetings, whether within or outside India. We travel when we absolutely need to,” said Desai.  

The country's largest drug maker, Sun Pharmaceuticals, has also asked its employees to report back to office. Only those employees who are Covid- positive or have a family member who is infected, are allowed to work from home, a company spokesperson said.  

The auto sector is also focussing on getting people back to office at least a few days in a week. At the Tata Motors corporate office, employees continue to show up two to three days a week. Mahindra Group has a flexible work model as well, and it is up to the employees to decide whether they want to work from home or come to office.  

For the last two to three months, Larsen and Toubro has been encouraging its fully-vaccinated employees to work from office. Those with health issues are allowed to operate from home.

But for the Indian IT services and startups the new normal is that while employees are getting back to office, they also have the option of working from anywhere. Globally, Google has asked its employees to return to office from April 4 for three days a week, though in India it is still on a “voluntary basis” — a popular phrase among companies that are inviting employees to come back to offices.

IT services sector companies are encouraging senior managers and leaders to attend office in person for three to four days a week, to start with. In most cases, managers and team leaders will have a say in which team members can work from home and who needs to come to office regularly.  

Take the case of Bengaluru-headquartered Infosys, which said that though over 96 per cent of its workforce is operating remotely, the company is looking to gradually increase the number of people coming back to office over the next 3-4 months.

“Our view is that the future will be hybrid, with a mix of employees coming in daily, some working fully remote and the rest using a mix of both modes. We believe this will best suit our business need as well as allow us to provide flexible work options to our current employees, as well as attract many new employees. In a steady state, subject to future COVID scenarios, we expect a hybrid model in which approximately 40 - 50 per cent of employees are likely to work from office on any given day,” said Richard Lobo, executive vice-president, head, human resources, Infosys.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) had earlier announced the 25/25 model which will require no more than 25 per cent of its employees to work from an office at any given time, and they also do not need to spend more than 25 per cent of their time in the office.

“We remain committed to adopting our futuristic and path-breaking 25/25 model. But 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,” said a company statement. 

The company stated that senior management level executives have started working from offices regularly and will be getting employees back to offices in the coming months. “We believe that innovation thrives in an environment of collaboration and there is more to work than a desk and a laptop,” said a company statement.

IT companies are also adopting digital infrastructure in a big way to make sure that the infrastructure also suits the changing nature of work. Other than hot seats, which employees need to pre-book, companies like TCS have set up over agile workseats, which allow employees to work and engage with fellow team members from any TCS office. Additionally, it has set up Occasional Operating Zones (OOZ), which allow employees to plug in their system in any office around the country and get instantly connected to the company’s global workforce. 

At the Ahmedabad-based Infibeam Avenues Limited, while the technology team is still allowed to work from home (WFH), others like the support and sales teams are working from office amid strict Covid protocols. “We are still analysing the situation,” said Ramya Murthy - head, human resources, Infibeam Avenues Limited.

At the other end of the spectrum are the new-age startups which want to change the way people work. Take the case of foodtech firm Swiggy, which is following a flexible work model. In November 2021, Swiggy introduced its Future of Work policy, a flexible working model for all employees based on their nature of work, and this has been effective since November 2021.

Girish Menon, head of human resources at Swiggy, said, ‘Using the findings from our internal surveys, we have created a work policy that offers employees the flexibility to build fulfilling careers while balancing their personal life with great ease. In the last two years, several employees have chosen to remain 100% remote permanently. We will continue to consider such requests if team dynamics and business goals are unaffected. This also means that the doors for global talent have opened.”