Gartner Survey: 50% of Indian hybrid workers consider themselves more productive when working remotely

Choice of location and flexible working hours are the top enablers for productivity in the hybrid work landscape, with nearly five in ten Indian hybrid workers considering themselves more productive when working remotely, according to a survey* by Gartner, Inc.

“Indian workers’ use of technology has accelerated since the onset of the global pandemic in 2020,” said Rashmi Kotipalli, principal research analyst at Gartner. “Improved digital dexterity, willingness to use real-time mobile messaging and virtual meeting solutions, along with scheduled flexibility, led to employees experiencing an uptick in their overall productivity while working from home.”

Indian workers reported that they gained more productivity working remotely and not dealing with pronounced traffic conditions which could span three to four hours each way. More than 40% of surveyed workers in the U.K., France and Germany indicated their productivity stayed the same, while more than 30% of Australian workers said they were more or much more productive working from home.

Workers Use Real-Time Mobile Messaging to Stay Connected

The survey showed that Indian workers use real-time mobile messaging daily. Of those surveyed, 83% Indian digital workers confirmed that they use real-time mobile messaging to conduct most work activities and prefer this tool over other virtual communication tools available when working remotely.

“Digital workplace technologies replaced in-person conversations, co-authoring content with co-workers in real-time and offline file transfers in 2020. These digital workplace technologies have now emerged as the core components of the “new work hub” which represents an evergreen collection of cloud-based, personal and team productivity technologies,” said Kotipalli.

Globally, 60% of workers said they use messaging tools daily, including 50% using collaboration and storage/sharing tools daily.

Indians Prefer Virtual Meetings Over In-Person

Contrary to their counterparts in China and Japan, Indian hybrid workers reported that they prefer virtual meetings over in-person meetings.

“Virtual meetings has always been desired by Indian workers. During the pandemic, Indian workers experienced first-hand the flexibility benefits they can reap out of virtual meetings, and now this has become their preferred choice,” said Kotipalli.

Analysts presented the findings of the Gartner 2021 Digital Worker Experience Survey during Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo 2021, which is taking place virtually in the India this week. The survey was conducted in November and December 2020 among 10,080 full-time employees at organizations with 100 or more employees in the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific, including 1,550 in India.

Gartner clients can read more in “Top Insights From the 2021 Digital Worker Experience Survey.” Learn more in the complimentary Gartner webinar “Gartner 2021 Digital Worker Experience Survey Results: The Real Future of Work.”