IT firms may opt for hybrid model
Top honchos to kickoff in-office work as such a move will instill confidence among junior employees to report duty at office in next qtr: Experts
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- IT employees have been working from home for 18 mths
- IT firms are issuing advisories every quarter
- Advisory for Dec qtr may give an option of working on a hybrid model
- Staffers can opt for coming to office for 2-3 days in a week
- No clarity yet on permanent working from remote location
- High vaccination rate is building the confidence among employees
Bengaluru|: Indian IT services companies have started asking employees on the leadership roles to join offices, which may be seen as a precursor to junior staffers coming back to offices by end of this year or early next year. Officials of IT firms, asper sources in the know, said that companies are issuing advisories every quarter and the advisory for October-December quarter is likely to give the option of working on a hybrid model wherein staffers can opt for coming to office for two-three days in a week.
However, there is no clarity yet on the option of providing permanent 'working from remote location' by IT services companies as announced by many global captives of multinational corporations.
"With high vaccination rate, the confidence is slowly coming back. That is the reason that many IT firms are asking their senior employees and staffers in the leadership roles to start working from offices. This will instil confidence among junior employees who can join back in next quarter or so," said Pareekh Jain, an IT outsourcing advisor and founder of Pareekh Consulting, told BizzBuzz.
Jain, however, said that "there is no clarity yet on providing permanent work from home option like many captives of large technology firms including Microsoft." Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji on Sunday said that its leaders would start returning to office from Monday after 18 months of work from home amid the Covid-19 pandemic. "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," Premji said in a tweet.
Earlier, Tata Consultancy Services' (TCS) CEO Rajesh Gopinathan has said that thecompany plans to call 70-80 per cent of its workforce to work from office by end of the current calendar year or early next year based on how the impending third wave of the pandemic turns out. Infosys has also indicated that it will ask staffers to work from offices depending on the third wave.
"There is a change in sentiment as compared to three months back. More than 55-60 per cent of staffers are vaccinated fully now. So, many are interested to come back to offices on their own. There is no drop in productivity or pressure from clients to bring back employees.
However, there is a certain level of fatigue setting in with regard to WFH," said a mid-level
employee of a large Bengaluru-based IT firm.
Meanwhile, sources in the know said that while staffers living in metro & tier-II cities are
eager to come back to offices, employees who are working from tier-III and rural regions are a bit reluctant to join back.
"Companies have already informed employees that all need to come back. It's just the matter of timing," said the source.
The intention of IT firms is clear as most of the leased properties are being retained. Even some are investing in buying office buildings. For instance, mid-tier IT firm Persistent Systems bought an office property worth Rs 117 crore in Pune last week.
