THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Work from office is making a comeback in the state’s IT sector, complementing the hybrid working arrangement implemented by most companies.
According to a survey by the three major IT parks in the state, companies have started adopting ‘work-from-office’ policies as COVID-19 is no more a concern.
Nearly 50% of the 486 companies at Thiruvananthapuram’s Technopark have employees working out of their offices. The rest are still holding on to hybrid arrangements and ‘work-from-home’ policies. At Infopark, in Kochi, around 60% of its 580 firms have returned to the status quo ante of office-based work. This figure is as high as 90% at Cyberpark, sources revealed. 84 companies are functioning out of the Kozhikode-based park.
About 80% of companies are returning employees to their offices, says Rajeev Krishnan, state convenor of Prathidwani, a socio-cultural organisation for the welfare of IT employees in the state. “Vibrancy is returning to all the IT parks in the state. We welcome and support work from office, which also enables employees to participate in other activities, as was the pre-pandemic trend.
“The shift is being driven by mid-sized companies with less than 250 employees. However, leading firms, including Infosys and UST, are yet to give up on hybrid arrangements. Their employees are in the office for at least three days a week. But they will also be forced to change course. With new IT space being readied, some companies will make the alteration to coincide with the shift to new offices,” Rajeev said.
Earlier in the year, Group of Technology Companies (GTech) Kerala conducted a survey of the working culture of IT companies in the post-pandemic scenario. It found that nearly 42% of firms had fully resumed office operations, with 38% in hybrid mode, and only 20% sticking to work from home. A total of 165 companies and employees of Technopark, Infopark, Cyberpark, and associated satellite parks participated in the survey.
TCS was one of the first sectoral majors to ask its employees to return to offices. However, its employees termed the communique a roster sent by the HR department. Work from the office could be made mandatory from next year, say industry experts.
“Hybrid work arrangements are here to stay, and will not totally disappear. As many employees relocated to their hometowns during the pandemic, getting them back to offices is impractical. In Kerala Conditions, power and connectivity conditions are stable even in remote locations and hence a hybrid mode is feasible. Depending on the nature of work, companies would have appropriate work-from-home or hybrid working policies, ” said V Sreekumar, secretary of GTech and centre head of Tata Elxsi.