As the year 2024 is just around the corner, it is worth recapping the Top HR-associated Work-Centric Debates in 2023 which include Work from Home vs. Work from Office, 70 Hours Work Week, and Open AI/ Generative AI Boom, etc.
Work from Home Vs Work from Office
As the COVID cases reach almost nil, Tech companies have ended Work From Home and started calling their employees to Work From Office. IT and Tech companies revised their remote working policies.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has ended the hybrid work policy and asked its employees to work from the office 5 days a week from October 1, 2023 onwards. Those employees who don’t comply with the rules will face disciplinary action.
Recently, IT giant Infosys has ended the work from home and asked its employees to come to the office. This change primarily affects employees categorized under Brand 5 and 6, encompassing mid-level managers, and entry-level staff. They have been directed to work for a minimum of 10 days each month from office, effective from November 20, 2023.
After TCS, Infosys, IT giant Wipro, and HCLTech have also asked their employees to come to office and work at least three days a week. Wipro has also ended work from Home and employees are required to report to the office three days a week, effective from November 15, 2023.
The Future of Woking Model in 2024
In an Internal Survey on LinkedIn, most of the people voted for 3 days Work from Office. Hopefully, in 2024 we will settle down on a Hybrid work model with 2-3 Days Working from the Office.
Work-life Balance Vs Compensation & Benefits
In the last couple of years before joining a new company, candidates were keeping a Work-life Balance the top priority but at the end of the year 2023, surprisingly, according to a LinkedIn survey conducted by SightsIn Plus “What do candidates look for in a company before joining?” Compensation & Benefits surpassed the work-life balance.
- 44% of people feel “Compensation and Benefits” is their top preference.
- Work-life Balance comes down to 3rd preference in the survey.
Open AI/ Generative AI Boom
In 2023, Microsoft-backed company OpenAI has launched a new powerful AI model. Moreover, Google has announced opening access to ChatGPT rival Bard.
Surprisingly, according to a LinkedIn survey conducted by SightsIn Plus “What are the Top HR Challenges for 2024?” 45% of people feel “Gen AI boom” is the top challenge. However, Talent Development, Work Culture, Relationships, and Compensation & Benefits received 18% wastage.
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna has stated that artificial intelligence is on a rapidly progressive pace to take over “clerical white-collar work”. According to Arvind Krishna following fields will find the automation:
- Customer Service: The AI taking over customer service could also get clients a “much better answer at maybe around half the current cost. Over time, it can get even lower than half, but it can take half out pretty quickly”.
- Human Resources: IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said, “Promoting people, hiring people, moving people while the final judgement calls are still left in human hands. There are hundreds of such processes inside every enterprise, so I do think clerical white collar work is going to be able to be replaced by this.”
- Finance and health care: IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said, “It is the “regulatory work” that will no longer need to be done by people.” “A big chunk of that could get automated using these techniques. Further out AI will likely be capable of managing “things like drug discovery or in trying to finish up chemistry”.
70 Hour Work Week
Infosys Co-Founder, NR Narayana Murthy said “India’s work productivity is one of the lowest in the world. Unless we improve our work productivity… we will not be able to compete with those countries that have made tremendous progress.”
“So, therefore, I request that our youngsters must say, ‘This is my country. I’d like to work 70 hours a week’,” he added.
Supporting Mr. Murthy, Bhavesh Agarwal, CEO of Ola Cabs, said “Totally agree with Mr Murthy’s views. It’s not our moment to work less and entertain ourselves. Rather it’s our moment to go all in and build in 1 generation what other countries have built over many generations!”
However, Harsh Goenka, Chairman of RPG Enterprises, disagrees with Narayana Murthy and said “5-day office week is dead’ Hybrid work is the present and the future.” Sajjan Jindal endorses Narayan Murthy’s ‘70-hour work week’ idea, saying “PM Modi works 14-16 hrs”
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