WFH to stay preferred mode of work in 2021 | Economic Times

NEW DELHI: Companies are reviewing working arrangements nearly eight months after the pandemic took hold. But with no clear timetable for the mass availability of vaccines, most have no option but to further extend work-from-home (WFH) arrangements, some more than others.Last week, Flipkart and Myntra announced the extension of WFH until May 2021.EY has extended it until June while Whirlpool has done so to the end of this year. Mahindra and Mahindra will continue with WFH for another two-three months at least.Tata Power and Schneider Electric will have most staff on WFH along with a hybrid work model. “We took a closer look at the Covid situation and how it has evolved over the last few weeks, and decided on extending remote working till May 31,” said Myntra CEO Amar Nagaram.EY’s offices have been open for the past five months but WFH is the preferred mode of work.“We are encouraging employees to WFA/H (work from anywhere/home) at least till June next year,” said Sandeep Kohli, partner and talent leader, EY India. “Post which we are putting in place a hybrid working model, where employees can work from office for two-three days and rest of the week from home.”79313908‘Assessing Situations’A Flipkart spokesperson said, “The decision to extend our work-from-home mandate comes on the back of multiple scenarios and new personal priorities that have emerged due to the pandemic.”Deloitte is continuing WFH at least until the end of the year. But employees can also work from the office after prior booking of seats through the in-house portal. “This helps the admin take stock of headcount at any given time in order to adhere to social distancing norms at offices,” said SV Nathan, partner and chief talent officer, Deloitte.As part of Tata Power’s hybrid work model, about 45% of employees come to office on a daily basis, 35% on a rotational basis and 15% —mostly technical, finance and support staff — work remotely.“We are assessing situations in every location and making changes accordingly,” said Himal Tewari, CHRO, Tata Power. For instance, after the surge in cases in Delhi-NCR, “we have temporarily reduced the staff coming to office and (some) are on rota or working remotely.”Schneider currently has about 30% employees coming to the office — largely commercial, sales and manufacturing staff. The company is looking to raise that to 50% in January.“The idea is to have half the employees working from offices depending on the pandemic situation and how it pans out,” said Rachna Mukherjee, CHRO, Schneider Electric, India and South Asia.Breaking MonotonyPaytm recently started paying allowances to employees to function from co-working spaces. “As a means to break the monotony of working from home, where needed, we have started the initiative to let our colleagues take up desks in co-working spaces so that they can work together with their teams,” said Rohit Thakur, CHRO, Paytm. This is also aimed at avoiding the crowding of offices while providing safe work options to employees.White-collar employees at Mahindra and Mahindra are currently working from home.“This arrangement is to continue at least for next two-to-three months,” said Rajeshwar Tripathi, CPO, Mahindra and Mahindra. “We are in no haste to open our offices and would assess the situation regularly.”Companies are strengthening work from anywhere (WFA) practices. For instance, Myntra has defined core working hours and a ‘no meeting day’ once a week to allow employees to balance personal and professional lives.