India’s leading IT companies like TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL Technologies have chalked out their plans to end complete work from home (WFH), which they have been following for their employees over the last 18 months, as India has already achieved the 100 crore vaccination mark.
IT bellwether TCS has said it will call back its employees to their office soon as 70% of them have been fully vaccinated and around 95% have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
“With 70 per cent of TCSers (employees of TCS) fully vaccinated, and over 95 per cent having received at least one dose, we plan to gradually get our workforce back in office by the end of this year,” Milind Lakkad, chief HR officer of the company said, while announcing the updates regarding the earnings for the quarter ending in September.
Earlier, TCS was planning to call back 90% of its employees to office by beginning of next year. But now the company says 25% of its employees will continue to work from home till 2025 depending on the requirement. For those who will start coming to office, the company has ensured full safety for them, the country’s biggest outsourcer said.
Infosys, the country’s second-biggest outsourcer, is also planning to follow a hybrid work model going forward.
“With over 86% of Infoscions (employees of Infosys) in India having received at least one dose of ‘vaccination’, we are now preparing to embrace the hybrid work model. We have equipped employees with the resources they need to be productive, cyber secure, stay connected, and maintain a work-life balance. Our talent strategy also factors in expanded hiring pools that include new communities and work locations,” said Pravin Rao, chief operating officer, Infosys.
While the WFH model followed by many service-oriented companies during the pandemic helped companies keep their employees safe while saving on rent, electricity cost and other operating expenses, many IT companies also witnessed a drop in employee productivity as many techies are milking the opportunity to earn dual income by taking up gig projects. Experts say this is the prime reason why many large IT companies want their employees to work from office by November-December.
Meanwhile, in Wipro fully-vaccinated employees have started going back to office from last month after a hiatus of 18 months as the country’s third-biggest outsourcer is also following a hybrid work model with fully-vaccinated workers coming to office two days in a week. Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji last month made the announcement on Twitter, saying, “After 18 long months, our leaders @Wipro are coming back to the office starting tomorrow (twice a week). All fully vaccinated, all ready to go – safely and socially distanced! We will watch this closely”.
The Wipro Chairman also shared a video showing Covid-19 safety protocols such as temperature checks and QR code scans being observed as employees return to the office.
HCL Technologies has already started asking its senior employees to come to office at least twice a week, while others must attend office once a week as per requirement. “We do expect momentum to increase by the end of this calendar year. This is the policy that we have at this point of time,” Apparao VV, chief human resource officer of the company said.
