Information technology companies' return to office in 2021will be gradual with no perceptible change by end of March.
Return to Office (RTO) will peak towards the end of 2021 andwill never be 100 per cent, revealed a survey by Hyderabad Software EnterprisesAssociation (HYSEA), the apex body of IT and ITeS companies in Hyderabad.
60 per cent of the companies plan to have less than 20 percent of their workforce operating from office by end of March 2021. But therewill be significant increase of 40 per cent in Work from Office (WFO) numbersby end of June.
Nearly 75 per cent of large and very large companies areplanning only 0-9 per cent employees working from office by end of March. ByJune 2021, WFO percentage is likely to touch 20 and in quite a few cases, WFOis expected to touch 30 per cent. By December 2021, the likely WFO percentagefor large and very large companies is 50-70.
More than 55 per cent of the Industry plans to increase WFOpercentages to greater than 70 per cent by Dec 2021, with more than 39 per centplanning to increase to greater than 90 per cent WFO. No one responded saying100 per cent WFO will return, said HYSEA, a registered apex body with more than300 members representing the IT/ITES industry in Hyderabad.
As many large companies have reported that a significantpercentage of their employees are working from outside Hyderabad (nativeplaces), RTO will become that much more time-consuming and complex consideringthe reverse migration that needs to happen in large numbers, survey reportsaid.
More than 50 per cent of the companies have reported morethan 25 per cent of their Hyderabad based workforce operating from outsideHyderabad, while 25 per cent of the companies have more than 50 per cent oftheir workforce operating from outside the city. More than 50 per cent of largeand very large companies have reported that 25 per cent or more of theiremployees are working from outside Hyderabad. In some cases, it is more than 50per cent of employees. It is tough to predict when (and if) such a massiveworkforce will return to Hyderabad, said HYSEA.
While Covid cases in Hyderabad seem to decline, it notedthat there is a talk of a potential second wave from authentic medical sourcesand there is also uncertainty regarding the vaccine availability andpercolation.
"On the other hand, life on the roads, in malls, intourist places and other areas seems to have nearly come back to normal goingby the intense people movement and economic activity. In a way, as HYSEApredicted, we have now learnt to co-exist with the virus. But the WFHpercentages for IT/ITeS industry continue to remain as predicted at around 90per cent. In case of many large companies, it remains as high as 95 percent."
Productivity continues to be very high, despite many largecompanies reporting that work environment at home is the single largest factorimpacting Work From Home (WFH). Most large companies have managed the employeewell-being and inclusivity well with very few observations here and there. Thisshows the resilience of the industry, it added.
More than 63 per cent of companies report a productivitylevels greater than 90 per cent relative to the pre-pandemic levels. In case oflarge and very large companies, nearly 100 per cent responded saying that theproductivity levels are greater than 90 per cent and in some cases 100 percent.
The survey revealed that there are very few cases of stressand inclusivity issues were observed during the prolonged WFH. Many companieshandled the situation well with proactive measures.
Contrary to the analysts' predictions, almost no one amongthe large and very large companies mentioned plans for any hub-spoke model inthe medium term.
Some very large companies have said client imperatives willdrive them to increase WFO in 2021. Most of the other companies said vaccineavailability and increased confidence in managing incidents at workplace willbe the reasons. These are mainly Global In-house Centres (GICs).
The participating companies were defined micro (0-100employees), small (101-500 employees), medium (501-1,000 employees), large(1,001-5,000) and very large (more than 5,000 employees)
Nearly 29 per cent of Large and Very Large (LVL) companieshave said that return to office, when implemented, will be mandatory. Asexpected, many in line with global policies, have said it will be voluntary.
The respondents include all sectors of the IT Industry,including IT Services, IT Products and IT enabled Services.
Compared to the previous survey, the WFO percentage hasclearly increased. But it is interesting to note that nearly 75 per cent oflarge and very large companies have reported WFO per cent as 0-5 per cent.
In the last nine months, only 20 per cent of the LVLcompanies have terminated some office space in the last few months. Majorityhave held on to status quo.
Majority of the companies have not anticipated any increasedoffice space requirement post RTO. A small percentage anticipated 10-20 percent increase. The perception that double the current space is required infuture is not getting justified by the data.
The IT/ITES industry in Hyderabad has over 5.82 lakhemployees working in 1,500 companies. The sector had clocked exports of over Rs1.28 lakh crore during 2019-20.