The Future of Work: The Covid-19 pandemic has changed how we used to see the world, and every human being has adapted to the new norm — from wearing masks to staying home and working from there. While we do not know when the pandemic situation will ease, we do know that it will not affect how we work now. Remote work is apparently here to linger, even if the other things go back to the pre-pandemic levels. A survey where 25 countries took part has noted that there will be no five-day week in the office for employees anymore, at least in the near future.
A report by the OECD found that both employees and managers opined that working from home had a positive impact on them in terms of performance and well being. “The proportion of staff teleworking at least one day a week is expected to be much higher than before the pandemic,” Bloomberg said citing the report.
In a separate study, also conducted by the OECD researchers, it was found that job postings on Indeed, an employment website, saw a substantial increase in advertised work from home during Covid lockdowns across the world. However, there was only a modest reversal to this when the restrictions eased.
“These results suggest that telework is here to stay, especially in countries with high levels of digital preparedness,” Bloomberg reported quoting the researchers.
In India too, the office work scenario is seeming to change. Though many offices, especially in the IT sector, are opening up, most of them are adapting to the hybrid model. Here, employees require to attend office only three days a week, and work from home the rest of the days.
IT giant TCS has a plan of eventually turning to a hybrid model 25×25. Under this model company believes that by 2025, only 25 percent of its associates will need to work out of facilities at any point of time. Also, the employees will not need to spend more than 25 percent of their time at work.
N.R. Narayana Murthy-owned IT major Infosys also followed a similar lead while announcing the company’s quarterly earnings, and said they will follow a hybrid model going forward.
On the other hand, Wipro in September called back its employees in office twice a week. “After 18 long months, our leaders @Wipro are coming back to the office starting tomorrow (twice a week). All fully vaccinated, all ready to go – safely and socially distanced,” said the company’s chairman Rishad Premji in a tweet.
Earlier this year, Nasscom in a report also noted that IT companies are more keen to bring back its employees for three days a week instead of the usual five days. As per the ‘NASSCOM Return to Workplace Survey’ published on November 1, about 70 per cent of workplaces in India are exploring the hybrid model of work, whereby employees can work from home on certain days and from office on the others. IT services and global capability centres (GCCs) are expected to be the first ones to adopt this model.
“To adapt, researchers analyzing the survey results said governments should ensure reliable Internet coverage, set regulations to make telework possible and provide training for those at risk of being left behind in a remote working world, including women and employees of smaller companies. They also said workers should be protected from too much working from home, which can harm wellbeing and productivity,” the Bloomberg report quoting OECD noted.
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