New Delhi, December 14: What started as an emergency measure to stop the spread of COVID-19, work from home is likely to become a permanent feature of many desk jobs. Various companies' executives as well as employees are finding it more convenient approach of working in the present times and has increased the productivity levels. According to a report by tech solutions provider WorkInSync, only 10 per cent of total employees returned to office at the end of November, following the lockdown imposed in March this year. Work from Home: Bajaj Allianz Life Planning to Allow Over 10,000 Employees to Permanently Opt for Working From Home.

Taking about the same at the CII-FMCG Summit that held on Wednesday, Laxman Narasimhan, global chief executive officer at healthcare maker Reckitt Benckiser said, “remote working is shaping up well and has brought many people into the workforce who were earlier hampered by personal commitments. People don’t have to travel for hours every day and there is lots of flexibility.” To its credit, Reckitt Benckiser logged record sales during the pandemic this year and returned to 100 per cent production capacity a month after the nationwide lockdown was implemented.  Work From Home Allowed by Microsoft, Tech Giant to Let Employees Remote Work Permanently, Says Report.

Various other senior executives of big companies concurred Narsimhan's views.“The 9 am-to-5 pm working hours are a thing of the past.At some stage, working from office may come back, but it still may not be what it used to be,” Varun Berry, MD, Britannia Industries told the Economic Times. “When work from home started, we had apprehensions since in metros the transit time is two-three hours. But as it turns out, work from home has improved productivity and the flexibility to bring in more women into the workforce,” Marico MD Saugata Gupta also told the business daily.

Various firms have been encouraging working from home. For instance, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, Coca-Cola India’s largest bottling partner with 6,500 direct employees, had allowed a significant chunk of its workforce to permanently work from home. IT companies including Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro have said they will let the majority of their employees continue to work from home till March.

The central government has also eased guidelines on work-from-home and work-from-anywhere norms for business process outsourcing and IT-enabled service companies, allowing them to tap into talent from small towns and remote parts of the country. However, some CEOs feel that its major drawback is that various new trainees and recruits were unable to observe their seniors at work.

 

 

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 14, 2020 02:12 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).