India Inc all set to welcome staff back to offices

India Inc seems to be ready to go back to the office. Several Indian companies will be getting their employees in full time as the third wave looks to be receding across the country. Many across sectors have already either switched or will restore 100% presence at corporate offices by next month, with states easing curbs on work attendance. Not all will go back to pre-Covid practices, with some adopting a hybrid system.

Tata-owned Voltas, ICICI Bank, Parle Products, Sun Pharmaceutical, Godrej, Goldman Sachs, Dabur, Haier, Panasonic, Biocon, Dixon Technologies and Motilal Oswal Financial Services are among those that have finalised plans or are on the verge of doing so, company executives said. This will be the first time several of them are ending work from home since the first lockdown in March 2020.

"No more weekly rosters, attendance plans from next month," said Satish NS, president at appliance maker Haier India.

Gunjan Samtani, head of Goldman Sachs Services in India, said the company believes its culture of apprenticeship and collaboration is best achieved in person. "With the Covid-19 situation easing in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, we welcome all our fully vaccinated employees back to office in early March, with continued consideration for personal circumstances," he said. The dip in overall Covid infection rates, full vaccination of employees and a mild third wave have bolstered the confidence of India Inc. Companies had begun reopening offices in the last week of January after a brief closure due to the third wave and many have already scaled up attendance to 50-80%.

Some like LG India, German wholesaler Metro Cash and Carry India and Godrej & Boyce will review increased office attendance in the next few days and possibly take it up to full capacity. Others such as Dabur, Parle Products, Sun Pharma and Panasonic have already started full-fledged office staffing since last week.

There will be differences such as staggered cafeteria timings, restrictions on seating, and curbs on the use of meeting rooms. Panasonic, for instance, has earmarked zones that employees will be urged to stay within. Some offices may not reopen cafeterias.

However, not all companies will resume 100% office attendance. For them, flexible work practices, including those adopted during the pandemic, are here to stay. Tata Steel, PepsiCo, Axis Bank, RPG Group, Cognizant, Vedanta, Puma and others will continue with hybrid work, for now. Flipkart will open offices in mid-March, though employee presence in a business unit won't exceed more than 55% on any given day.

Tata Steel said the "agile working models" policy introduced in November 2020 to provide more flexibility to employees as a pilot project for one year has received positive feedback. The company has decided to continue with this.

Some companies face an issue that doesn’t allow them to push for 100% attendance. A senior executive with a leading ecommerce firm said employee strength had gone up during the pandemic while office space has remained the same.

“Hence, even if we want to restart complete attendance from the office it will take some time till we lease more office space,” he said.