THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With Covid cases declining steadily in the state, the government on Wednesday revoked the work-from-home (WFH) arrangement extended to certain categories of employees in both government and private sectors.
However, most IT companies, which have been encouraging the WFH mode, are likely to opt for the hybrid mode (combining work from office and WFH).
“We encourage all employees to be back in office and ask companies to ensure their safety and extend needed support. It is up to the companies to decide on specifics,” said IT Parks-Kerala CEO John M Thomas.
The state reported 12,223 new cases on Wednesday, but the weekly infection rate has been dipping steadily from the last week of January. Of the 1,13,798 current patients, only 4.5% are admitted to hospitals.
Earlier, the state government had allowed women who are pregnant/having children below two years, employees who have children suffering from physical/mental challenges such as autism or cerebral palsy, cancer patients, and severely sick to avail the work-from-home option.
IT companies to persist with effective, flexible hybrid mode
“The new order revoking the WFH arrangement has been issued in order to bring clarity to both employers and employees,” said an officer with the disaster management department. While most of the employees were allowed to opt for WFH during the first two waves, the government chose to be selective during the third wave.
Further, in the third week of January, the government decided against giving seven-day special casual leave to employees becoming primary contacts.
A Technopark official said the hybrid model is effective.
“It allows a small percentage of employees to attend office and others to work from home. The IT companies have been able to ensure a productivity of up to 85% under the mode. At present, only 5-10% of the workers are attending the office.” Group of Technology Companies’ (GTech) secretary Binu Jacob said it would take some time before all employees are back in office.
“GTech always wanted all employees to work from the office. Freshers can’t work from home as they need to undergo training. Until we take a call on it, we’ll follow the hybrid model,” he said.
The companies have indicated that at least 20% of the workforce will continue to work from home, even after the the pandemic ends. Technopark, Infopark and Cyberpark are all expected to generate more jobs in the next one year.
While they alone give jobs to 1.10 lakh people, the IT sector employs nearly 3.30 lakh people indirectly.
M S Shiv Shankar, the Thiruvananthapuram head of USbased IT company Agilite Group at Technopark, said they would go ahead with the “flexible” hybrid working model.
“It is because the productivity of the employees did not show any downturn during the pandemic and also the growth is on the higher side. Besides, many companies are hiring employees due to the current positive scenario, “ he said.
Technopark-based start-up Waybeo Technology’s CEO Krishnan R V Iyer said, “Not only us, but many companies are adopting the hybrid model as it never affects the working environment.”
Meanwhile, IT-Parks authorities expect the spaces that were vacated by many companies at Technopark during the pandemic to get filled once the rental issues are sorted out.
WFH gets thumbs-up in survey
In a survey, 63% males and 61% females said their work-life balance improved after WFH mode was implemented. However, many of them said their working hours increased significantly.