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Why is hybrid work plan India Inc's new favourite?

When COVID-19 and the pandemic-induced protocols eased their firm grip on individuals and their lifestyles, businesses were left scrambling to piece together a flexible workplace.

In the post-pandemic era, most employees refused to leave the comforts of their homes to face the additional costs of commuting to work and the benefits of balancing personal life. Last month, hundreds of New York Times employees resisted the company's return to office push by working from home.

The shift in priorities naturally left employers in a conundrum- how to coordinate the huge workflow and data daily while keeping employees remote?

Thus emerged the concept of hybrid work culture, a compromised model of work to incorporate the benefits of both worlds.

Three days a week in the office is the most popular hybrid working style for India Inc, with 26% of the firms preferring the same, according to a Colliers survey on consulting, BFSI and engineering sectors.

Preference for hybrid models

"As the pandemic has become the ‘new normal', we are asking employees to return to the office, albeit with the perks of hybrid working. We have started a phased ‘return-to-work’ model to ensure our workforce is not rushed into any changes especially if it impacts their well-being," says Kavita Kurup, Global Head of HR, UST.

A survey of more than 9,000 workers around the world by Accenture discovered that 83 per cent of the workers consider a hybrid model optimal.

"The major advantage of a hybrid workplace is lesser commute time," says Revathy S Benjamin, Senior Test Engineer at Capgemini India.

83 per cent of the workers consider a hybrid model optimal.

Accenture Survey

The Mumbai-based IT professional says she saves more than 2 hours of commute time daily by working remotely. "The flexible timings also allow us to communicate with clients who work at US and UK timings and provide late-night deliveries," Revathy adds.

But not all employees think flexible timings are an advantage.

“Working from home is helpful in many ways. The flexibility of working without a clock ticking near your head helps us in running personal errands and maintaining a balance. Unfortunately, it’s not without its fair share of evils. IT professionals often end up working unsustainable, extended hours when they opt to work remotely. Hybrid models could help us find a healthy middle ground,” a former employee at Tata Consultancy Services says.

Many employees however complain that working from home limits human interaction and affects productivity.

Representational image: Manorama

“At my new firm, I’ve met my associates and colleagues only virtually. This affects rapport and therefore, teamwork. A hybrid model would help rectify that,” says the former TCS employee.

The Accenture survey revealed that giving employees the option to work remotely helped develop stronger work relationships and left employees feeling better off. Meanwhile, 85 per cent of the people felt their place of work did not affect their productivity.

“When employees have more control of their work schedules, they can free up time to take care of the things that crop up in their personal lives — whether it’s running an errand, picking up kids from daycare, or being home for a delivery,” says Kavita.

She adds that it also allows firms to diversify the risk of infection. With remote working available as an option, sick employees can stay home to protect their co-workers.

While the former TCS employee quoted agrees with Kavita, she believes that a long-term choice to work from home would leave an employee worse off in terms of physical and psychological health.

“The prolonged, sedentary style of working during the pandemic affected many of us. We struggled with back aches and other orthopaedic issues due to lack of mobility,” she said.

With remote working available as an option, sick employees can stay home to protect their co-workers.

Kavita Kurup, Global Head of HR, UST

Distractions versus productivity

The natural question any firm would first consider while considering the mode of working is how distracted an employee can be when he/she works remotely. According to a study by the Economist, loss of focus due to distractions translates to an estimated annual salary cost of $34,448 per person in lost productivity in the United States.

Despite all the possible positives associated with the hybrid work culture, some are sceptic about keeping the productivity level up. "It is true that we have moved on to a hybrid system. This is reflected in the new offices we have opened post-pandemic. We are moving closer to the hometowns of our employees in tier II and tier III cities," says a senior IT professional of a leading MNC service provider in India, on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to talk to the media.

"But we face challenges in getting our employees motivated and not lose focus. There have been instances of moonlighting that affect our overall productivity. To avoid that we ask out team members to come to the office on different days of the week," he says.

"We have found that human errors have increased and productivity has suffered post-pandemic. Managers have an additional workload of keeping our subordinates in check as well as delivering the products as per the clients' demand," he says.

But 36 per cent of employees feel more focused working from home as opposed to their office, compared to 28 per cent who feel less focused.

Lengthy periods of deep focus are not common at workplaces, chiefly due to face-to-face interruptions (while in the office) and regular email checks, and so forth.

However, nearly 30 per cent of respondents identify the temptation to relax as the dominant distraction while working from home. Feeling disconnected from colleagues also ranked highly as an impediment to engaging in productive tasks.

ebrahim-riyaz-work-from-home-bengaluru
Representational image. File photo: Manorama

According to an Oslash survey quoted by Bloomberg, employees from Gen X were more likely to spend their workday running errands than other generations, and Gen Z (79%) were more likely to juggle multiple jobs while working. Almost half of the millennials admitted being distracted by their children (42%), while Gen Z employees were almost equally distracted by their pets (41%).

“A home environment is a distracting environment if you have a kid around. The team also helps you focus on your work. Lesser face-to-face interaction poses a major issue,” says Revathy adding that a hybrid environment is preferred from an economical perspective.

Hybrid models to an extent allow to minimise distractions and therefore, improve productivity. According to the Colliers survey, about one-third of the offices surveyed revealed that their productivity increased by 5-10 per cent with hybrid working.

“A hybrid model allows our workforce to work asynchronously. We have found a hybrid way of working to maximize productivity, efficiency, and output,” says Kavita.

Challenges galore

A 2021 McKinsey survey says that leading companies have reimagined their entire hiring process to include a hybrid model. Now, 65 per cent of high-growth organisations have flexible workforce models as opposed to only 21 per cent in negative or no-growth companies, according to Accenture.

Firms face challenges in mobilizing teams outside of traditional roles and operating models, and nurturing a cohesive culture amid periods of high uncertainty.

As companies compete for talent and adapt to new ways of working, the technology they use has become the dominant feature of the employee experience. Firms opting to stay in the hybrid workplace spectrum must focus on providing the necessary devices and technology for working remotely.

Firms need to have upgraded software to ensure seamless communication with employees without compromising privacy.

Hiring
A "Now Hiring" sign sits in the window of Tatte Bakery and Cafe in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., February 11, 2019. Reuters

The hiring challenge

Forty-two per cent of current remote workers say if their current company does not continue to offer remote work options long term, they will look for a job at a company that does, a Pulse of the American Worker survey says. The New York Times protest is a case in point.

“Employees have discovered how flexible work arrangements lowered their stress levels, and employers, discovered that not only do hybrid remote workforces perform just as well as on-site teams, they also surpassed on-site teams in productivity,” says Kavita.

After the pandemic, employees are not just looking for great salaries, they are also interested in the benefits on offer and the impact on their quality of life. Many of the IT professionals Onmanorama spoke to are planning to migrate to foreign countries despite being paid a salary above industry standards as working extended hours has taken a toll on their personal time and overall quality of life.

Companies have to reinvent their working style to accommodate remote working if they need to hire and retain good professionals.

(Research and additional inputs: Kannan V.)

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