'back to office' picks up pace

Embracing Hybrid Strategy

- HR managers started sending mails to employees to report back to the office

- However, they don't specify the timeline of return

- IT majors seem to be preferring hybrid strategy in a phased manner

- About 70% of employees expected to work in office by March

- Junior employees working from tier-2 and tier-3 cities are preferring WFH

- Over 86% of employees received first dose of vaccine

Bengaluru: IT sector employees of most Indian IT firms are likely to join back offices in large numbers by

December as the Covid pandemic recedes across India. Management of top four IT companies indicated that senior leaders have started working from offices now and employees are likely to resume work from offices from this quarter onwards.

Sources in the know said that employees of big IT firms, who are currently working from tier-II &III cities, have been asked to report to their base offices. This is seen as the first step in taking back employees to offices after a prolonged work-from-home (WFH) since March last year.

"Staffers have started receiving mails from senior management with the message to resume work from offices in the near future. These communications, though, don't specify the timeline of return, but have broad hints of starting work from offices," said a mid-level IT sector executive working with a leading IT company in Bengaluru. The management of top four IT firms also echoed similar sentiment during the just-ended quarterly earnings press conferences.

The HR head of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) had said that bringing employees back to the office first will be key to implementing its hybrid strategy in a phased manner. It will help employees connect and build social capital before they start working virtually again, he had said during Q2 results.

Earlier TCS CEO, Rajesh Gopinathan had said that the company would get back 70-80 per cent of its employees by end of this year or early next year. "With over 86 per cent of Infoscions in India having received at least one dose of 'vaccination', we are now preparing to embrace the hybrid work model," Infosys' Chief Operating Officer, Pravin Rao said last week during the customary post-results press conference.

Similarly, HCL Technologies also has plans to call its employees back to offices in phases and is now encouraging senior leaders to start operating from office.

"We do expect momentum to increase by the end of this calendar year. This is the policy that we have at this point of time,: HCL chief human resource officer (CHRO) Apparao VV said.

For IT major Wipro, its senior management has already started working from office now and the company will bring back employees in phases over the coming quarters.

Sources in the know said that while senior and mid-level staffers are keen to come back to offices, junior employees operating from tier-II or III cities are keen to continue with WFH option. "There is no clarity yet on what percentage of employee will operate on WFH mode at any point of time. I think, this is an evolving issue now," said a HR professional.

Meanwhile, HR departments of IT companies are struggling to cope with moonlighting of staffers due to the WFH mode along with rising attrition numbers.