It’s almost been two weeks since the government announced the lockdown in order to contain the spread of Covid-19 that has forced employees to work from home. Hashtags like #TheNewNormal have been flooded the internet for quite a long time now, also this might become a standard practice for some industries, even after the lockdown is resolved.
Reports suggest that around two-thirds of the 4.3 million ITBPO workforce around India have moved to a work-from-home model in order to keep services up and running. Some industry experts have stated that some firms are likely to inculcate the WFH model permanently.
Companies like EXL Service and PolicyBazaar have told national publications that they are expecting some of its staffers to work from home on a long term basis. It’s not a secret that WFH would be encouraging more and more women to join the workforce as the commuting option would be ruled out.
Possibly India Inc is considering WFH seriously could be due to the fact that it involves cost savings, convenience, and productivity gains if executed with perfection. On a tentative basis, a physical office costs with a seating capacity of 500, can cost somewhat around 10 crores in rent, which roughly comes to around 2 lakh per employee. Additionally, comes the cost of staff transportation, air-conditioning, and ventilation, furnishing, and cafeteria.
Comparatively, WFH would give companies more flexibility to move as per business needs. Some industry experts are of the opinion that employees could be compensated based on transactions, like the more productive someone is, the more likely they would be compensated more.
However, it is noted that not all companies are gungho over WFH. Many renowned companies have flagged up an issue, stating that WFH has a human challenge. Some top heads have stated that they don’t want to miss the human touch, as there is some mentoring required that cannot be done virtually.
Various employees have stated that there can be a problem on the home front also, like most of them may not have a spare room at home for longterm WFH. Also, the millennial workforce that live in PGs, may not have the space or freedom to install the required infrastructure everytime to install the required infrastructure. While one section of the population has been advocating for WFH to be implemented in the long run, there are the others that have been raising red flags. However, these are just the early days where a complete evaluation of the pros and cons of remote working is needed. Also, what’s most important are the learnings as an organisation, of delivering value while working remotely and ensuring safety for everyone.