Hybrid Model emerges winner in India Inc survey

More than 90% of companies in India have returned to work from office fully or partially, even as the debate over the efficacy of work modes - from home, hybrid or from office - continues.

Only about 9% of corporate India was working fully remotely as of August 2022 compared with 38% in January, according to a survey by HR solutions company Aon.

This is despite a clear preference among employees to work from home. The survey showed that an imminent return to office triggered high attrition. Attrition for companies that announced a return to office in the next few months stood at 29% in August, compared with 19% each for those working virtually and those who are back to the office in a hybrid mode.

Close to 70% of the 700 companies covered in the survey worked in a hybrid mode in August 2022 compared with 47% in January. The data were shared exclusively with ET.

Companies including PepsiCo, RPG Group, Mercedes-Benz India, Tech Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki are keeping their work mode options flexible, their executives told ET. Some like PepsiCo India plan to tweak their work mode along the way.

"While employees have the flexibility to work from home, many are choosing to come to the office seeking a change in environment that helps keep spirits high," said Pavitra Singh, chief HR officer, PepsiCo India. The company is operating in a hybrid model, with more than half the employees in office on a usual workday.

RPG Enterprises too is working in a hybrid mode. The group has categorised jobs into four distinct buckets. At one end of the continuum are those who can work remotely at all times (such as pure tech roles or frontline sales) whereas at the other end there are those who have to be at work physically due to the classification of jobs that they perform (administration, security, factory workers). Functions that can work efficiently in a hybrid setting fall in between (such as finance, HR and legal).

Said S Venkatesh, group president- HR - RPG Enterprises: "All our offices are open ... We have not seen any drop in employee productivity in a hybrid setting."

Carmaker Maruti Suzuki India is among the 23% companies in the survey working on-site/from office. Said Rajesh Uppal, member-executive board (HR, IT, safety and digital enterprise): "Almost all employees are coming to the office now. A few continue to work in a hybrid mode depending on their roles. Being a manufacturing firm, all employees are needed to come to the office. This helps in collaboration and innovation."

Luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz India has a hybrid work culture in place, where white-collar employees work 2-3 days from office mandatorily and the company has provided the flexibility to work from home for the other weekdays.

"Employees find it increasingly useful to have the flexibility to work from home and work on-site. This helps in maintaining a social connect with their team-mates while bringing in work-life balance," said managing director Martin Schwenk.

Some companies like Tech Mahindra expect hybrid work mode to get further ramped up. Said Harshvendra Soin, global chief people officer and head - marketing: "Our associates continue to have the flexibility to work from anywhere and we expect this trend of hybrid working to ramp up. we have worked on improving 'at home' experiences along with 'at work' experiences."