With an overwhelming majority of Hyderabad's IT/ITeS employee base still working from home and concern over a possible third wave of COVID-19 hampering efforts to get employees back to office, 70% of the companies feel that hybrid will be the future work model. According to a survey conducted by Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association (HYSEA), the apex body of IT/ITeS companies in Hyderabad, the hybrid model based on rotation and hybrid model with partial Work From Home (WFH) and partial Work From Office (WFO) will be the preferred future work models of the organisations.
According to the survey findings, 37% companies prefer hybrid model (WFH+WFO) based on rotation while 33% are for hybrid model with partial week WFH and partial week WFO. As many as 22% of companies stated they are not yet sure. Six per cent prefer return to pre-COVID normal while only 2% want to have only essential employees WFO. Nearly 25% of HYSEA members responded to the survey. They represent nearly 25% of the IT/ITeS population in Hyderabad.
Medium/large/very large (MLVL) companies form a substantial 36% of the total respondents, giving the survey results credibility. Nearly 45% of the respondents are GCCs (global companies with their technology operations in Hyderabad). According to the survey, small companies seem to have moved first in getting employees back to office. Nearly 20% of the responding companies said they already have more than 20% of staff WFO.
Work from Office
Across sizes, nearly 76% of all companies have less than 9% WFO. Among the MLVL (> 500 employees) companies, this WFO percentage is less than 5. As many as 91% of the companies have more than 25% of their workforce operating from outside Hyderabad. A significant 53% have more than 40% of their workforce operating from outside Hyderabad. This is more prevalent among the MLVL companies with the average being over 40%. Assuming an overall workforce of 6 lakh plus, this translates to nearly 2 lakh being outside Hyderabad. This factor is eventually turning out to be a big constraint in getting employees to return to office.
A majority of the MLVL companies want to get their employees back to office in 2021. A total of 33% of all companies want to get employees back to office in 2021. Another 41% want to do so in 2022. The survey reveals that 25% are not sure of their plans and prefer to wait and see how things evolve.
A total 73% of companies are looking to get minimum 10% and maximum 50% of employees back in office by December 2021. The remaining 27% of the companies will be operating with less than 10% employees working from office by December 2021.
Among the MLVL companies, nearly 60% are looking at getting more than 20% and in some cases, more than 50% of the employees back to office by the end of 2021. By the end of March 2022, 79% of companies (including MLVL) will have anywhere from 30% to 90% employees WFO. It translates to minimum 2 lakh and maximum 5 lakh employees back in offices by March 2022.
An overwhelming majority (more than 84%) companies said they expect employees to have taken at least one vaccination dose before they can return to office. This percentage holds good for MLVL companies too.
Why companies want employees back in office
Teamwork & collaboration, mentorship, training & development, organisation culture, identity and loyalty and increasing employee morale are the top reasons companies want employees to get back to office. Client imperative also appeared as a key driver among the IT services companies. A substantial 40% of the companies also said they keep the factor of dependent sectors in mind while making the decision.
Constraints for WFO
The top constraint across the board for getting employees back to office turned out to be that many employees are outside Hyderabad. This is followed closely by concern about a possible third wave, PG Hostel and other safe accommodation for returning employees, many employees still not vaccinated, and schools not reopened.
Vaccination
Approximately 36% of companies have at least 50-75% employees vaccinated. As many as 63% companies see no challenges in getting employees fully vaccinated while 25% feel vaccine availability is a challenge. About 12% see vaccine hesitancy among employees as a challenge.
The companies expect HYSEA and the government to continue to position Hyderabad as a place of investment and growth, ensure widespread availability of vaccines across the state, safety and availability of accommodation at PG hostels and other places, highlight the benefits of working from office, and help spread awareness about physical distancing and vaccination.
With IANS inputs