IT firms not in a hurry to get their staff back in office

engaluru | Mumbai: IT services providers are treading cautiously over bringing employees back to offices, as India has yet to flatten the Covid-19 pandemic curve and workforce productivity has been either unaffected or rising in the last few months.

As Covid-19 infections started to climb in March, the $147 billion Indian outsourcing industry moved to a work-from-home model across the country. Now, it is in no hurry to go back to old ways.

Infosys is enabling a gradual return of employees to offices. Currently, only about 15% of its staff are working from offices across the country. It is carefully monitoring various office locations and reopening only if the conditions are suitable.


“Considering there has been no loss of productivity with remote working, we want to ensure that return to office is not rushed, and takes into account all elements of employee safety and wellbeing as well as business deliverables,” said Richard Lobo, Executive Vice President, Head HR at Infosys.

Hexaware Technologies has no employee working from offices. It is likely to ramp up the number to a maximum 50%, depending on the health status in each community it operates in. It does not, however, anticipate having more than half its staff in offices across locations till a vaccine is widely available. “Hexaware policy on employees coming back to campus is not linked to government policies and dates of opening,” said R Srikrishna, CEO, Hexaware Technologies.

HCL Technologies has only about 4% of its employees working at customer locations and its offices.