It seems like just yesterday that companies called employees back to the office. Long after pandemic-induced restrictions, work from home, and then gradually, hybrid models, became the norm.
Now, the Iran war is hinting at a major fuel crisis. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday, urged Indian citizens to opt for certain socio-economic measures prevalent during the pandemic. And lo and behold, WFH is back on the table.
A media headline screamed that techies were “jumping with joy” in metro cities. Meanwhile, the IT employees’ union Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate has written to the government to issue an advisory “directing IT/ITES companies and digitally deliverable services to implement mandatory work from home, wherever operationally feasible, for an appropriate period”.
Understandably, murmurs of ‘Will we get the WFH option?’ have already started filling office spaces across Kerala as well.
“Currently, we are not seeing an active discussion from the management side, but certainly there is a buzz. Employees are discussing the possibilities,” says Deepa Ashik, a member of the techies’ organisation Prathidhwani.
Deepa recalls the pandemic days. “Back then, there was no other way but to rethink the corporate system and get into the new model. And we all learnt and even were comfortable with the idea of WFH,” she smiles.
“One can spend time with family members… don’t need to spend time stuck in traffic for hours to and from the office.”
However, she adds, it also had real drawbacks. “You are always on the clock. The work never stops. One may lose the boundary between work and home, or say, personal time,” she notes.
Deepa is keenly watching the situation at play. Due to the assembly elections, she believes, Kerala hasn’t been discussing ground-level ramifications of the war much. “Moreover, we have not yet felt the supply crunch, except in the case of commercial LPG,” she observes.
“So, people till now didn’t take it seriously. But if the LPG /fuel crisis affects daily life, the situation will change.”
Anish Panthalani, president of Progressive Techies, points out that already many firms have been in the hybrid mode since the pandemic. “In such a setting, employees have to come to the office for three days; the other two are WFH. The hybrid model is balanced, a little bit of both worlds,” he smiles.
While Anish agrees WFH has benefits such as flexibility, less commuting stress, improved work-life balance, and reduced traffic and pollution, he too says there are also drawbacks.
“There are challenges like weaker team coordination, productivity concerns, employee isolation, management difficulties, and so on,” he notes.
“Many employees, especially those who joined during the Covid period, are just getting used to office culture. The bond between teams, communication, and fostering the in-house culture of companies struggle during the work-from-home model. These are issues that need serious discussion and we should find practical solutions.”
While employees are again starting to rethink reorganising their living situation and workspace, many firms in Kerala are hoping hybrid models would suffice in the coming days.
A senior executive of UST Global says “no immediate changes are being considered” to the company’s work policy. “We follow a hybrid model — three days work from the
office,” the official says.
Renjith Ramachandran of IVA in Technopark says most companies won’t prefer a complete WFH when the hybrid model is running well.
“There could also be high-profile projects that need to be done in the office. There won’t be major changes to the system anytime soon. However, it all depends on the situation at hand and the necessities,” he says.
Companies, he notes, were trying to bring back employees to the office, especially in light of issues like moonlighting and lack of cohesion between teams.
“To make WFH run seamlessly, there may also need to be more mid-level managers, especially to manage the communication side of things, which most companies wouldn’t be wanting,” he adds.
Meanwhile, the industry is looking to the government for definite guidelines, as per reports. Companies are monitoring the situation and looking at avoiding non-essential travel, rescheduling foreign conferences, and returning to online meetings.
A Balakrishnan, advisory board member of Geojit Financial Services, says employees have already started asking HR departments for further directions after Modi’s speech.
“There are concerns about productivity loss, and the affect of remote working on passive learning,” he says. “Another problem is moonlighting. A prolonged work-from-home scenario is not something the industry would really want now.”
The Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) held a meeting on Tuesday evening to discuss the suggestions made by the Prime Minister.
“Just a week back, at a meeting in Mumbai, many in the industry were discussing the need for bringing back complete physical work culture — a complete return to the pre-Covid times. But just days later, we are back to talking about WFH,” says P M Veeramani, a senior member of CCCI.
“The industry is looking for definite guidelines from the government. Hopefully, there will be more information soon.”
S N Raghuchandran Nair, president of the Trivandrum Chamber of Commerce and Industry, says the prime minister’s advice hints at imminent financial and fuel crises.
“However, I believe we don’t need complete pandemic-like curbs. We need the economy to be up and running and money to move around,” he says.
“The hybrid model, which already exists in IT and IT-enabled firms, is good enough. It is also the better option, considering the psychological impact isolation can have on employees.”
Quick takes
IT employees’ union NITES has written to the government to issue an advisory “directing IT/ITES companies and digitally deliverable services to implement mandatory work from home, wherever operationally feasible”
Industry bodies believe the hybrid model, which already exists in many companies, would suffice