BENGALURU: As the country is preparing to tackle any possible surge in Covid cases, considering the recent spike in cases in China and other nations, start-ups and Indian enterprises are in wait-and-watch mode and most of them have already opted for the hybrid work model.
Though the country did not witness any spike in cases in recent times, staffing firms and start-ups say they are well-prepared to work-from-home (WFH) and the sudden shift would no longer be a concern.
Most organisations are already equipped to have employees WFH and almost all companies are working in hybrid-mode only, said Vijay Sivaram, CEO, of Quess IT Staffing. Talking about readiness, he added that start-ups are still flexible in remote working and they would not burn too much cost on large offices and will continue the present flexibility.
Start-ups such as Fello and Zolo said it is important to protect the health of employees. Nikhil Sikri, co-founder and CEO of Zolo, which employs 1,600 people, said, “A complete WFH scenario has been previously tried with mixed results and we will be working in a hybrid model to strike a balance.” Game-based savings platform Fello, which was started during the pandemic period, said it worked from home for 14 months. “We eventually noticed that the team was done with the so-called Zoom fatigue and wanted to work together and we started working together in safe premises,” said Manish Maryada, co-founder and CEO, Fello. If cases arise, the start-up might move to WFH again.
About 50% of the workforce is working remotely in the services industry, manufacturing and automotive sectors. They have made shared services functions to work remotely and are using a combination of flexible working and workforce rotation principles to drive a productive work environment from anywhere, said Augustus Azariah, Chairman of, HR & Women Leadership Expert Committee, BCIC.
A majority of IT employees are continuing WFH for close to 2.9 years now. Many IT firms have said they will continue hybrid work and employees can work two days a week from offices. “The hard-found balance between WFH, Hybrid and WFO is something that enterprises hold dear and something that they would hate to lose. While the government measures and lockdowns could come in the way of enterprises, a preference to keep that as the last resort is evident,” said Kamal Karanth, co-founder of Xpheno.