The concept of work from home has begun for most employees when the first Covid-19 lockdown was announced. Now, almost that we are after two years and now when there is a visible decline in the number of Covid-19 cases, several of India’s IT firms such as TCS, Wipro, Infosys, HCL, etc are gearing up to call their employees back to office.
However, in a slight respite to the employees, many companies will still continue with a hybrid model.
Even as omicron cases fall, IT firms are still mindful of resuming the hybrid work model while at the same time reopening offices to give employees the option to work from there.
IT majors like Wipro, Cognizant, TCS, Infosys are now asking their employees to get ready to return to offices.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
While talking to SightsIn Plus TCS spokesperson said that as the situation with respect to COVID 19 has improved across the globe and now that majority of TCS associates and their families are vaccinated, they are transitioning into a hybrid mode of working.
The associates are choosing to spend time at both, office premises and working remotely. The company will be getting the employees back to offices in the coming months. As the company has already started to encourage associates to return to their respective offices.
Senior management executives have started working from offices regularly. The offices around the world are following all social distancing & COVID 19 protocols, implemented around the beginning of the pandemic, and are extremely safe for employees to work out of.
The company is looking forward to seeing the campuses bustling with young energy in the coming months across all of its global offices spread across 46 countries.
It will remain committed to adopting TCS’s futuristic and path-breaking 25X25 model. This model will require no more than 25% of its associates to work from an office at any given point in time, and they don’t need to spend more than 25% of their time in the office.
But an important part of the journey to the 25/25 model is to first bring employees back to physical offices and gradually transition into the hybrid work model.
It is gradually shifting to an agile model by making infrastructure modifications and adopting digital infrastructure and has also set up agile worksheets worldwide, which allow TCS associates to work and engage with fellow team members from any of its offices.
The workspace is intelligent, automated, and cloud-based digital infrastructure that is adaptable to accommodate evolving safety policies and regulations, resilient to the onslaught of cyberattacks, and supports work-from-anywhere operating models.
Additionally, Occasional Operating Zones (OOZ) and hot desks have also been set up. These OOZs allow the associates to plug in their system in any office around the country and get connected to the global workforce instantly.
The last two years have been a radical disruption in the way we think, live, and function.
There definitely is excitement around coming back to the workplace, people want to meet their colleagues. This hybrid model enables greater flexibility for employees and thus seems to be a welcome change in the industry.
Infosys
According to the management, over 96 per cent of its employees are still working remotely and the company does not envisage a sudden shift from this mode as the company continues to take precautions.
The IT major is planning a “phased return to office”, motivating their employees to just attend office in person for a day or two per week.
“In a steady-state, subject to Covid scenarios, we expect a hybrid model in which approximately 40-50 per cent of employees are likely to work from office post subsequent phases of return to office.” said Richard Lobo, executive vice president, head HR at Infosys.
Cognizant
Cognizant has planned to have employees back on-premise in a phased manner. “Cognizant aims to return to the office in a phased manner starting April 2022 as we monitor the uncertain path of the Omicron variant…Until then, travel will be restricted, and office-based work will remain voluntary,” Shantanu Jha, senior vice president, HR said in an earlier statement.
For the employees who are not assigned to a client site or to work fully remotely, our new standard workweek under the hybrid model will consist of three days in the office and two from wherever they work best, he further added.
HCL
HCL Technologies, the third-largest software services firm is still in the monitoring phase. Meanwhile, will continue with its hybrid work mode for the time being.
“At HCL, one of our top priorities is the safety and well-being of our employees and their families. We also remain deeply committed to maintaining our business normalcy thereby ensuring uninterrupted services to our clients. At present we are monitoring the situation and continue to operate in a hybrid model,” said a company spokesperson.
According to a report in a leading daily, ICICI Bank, Parle Products, Sun Pharmaceutical, Tata-owned Voltas, Godrej, Goldman Sachs, Dabur, Haier, Panasonic, Biocon, Dixon Technologies, and Motilal Oswal Financial Services have also finalised plans to call employees back to the office.
