Companies throughout sectors together with Tata Steel, Flipkart, Marico, LTIMindtree, Boston Consulting Group and Eaton intend to maintain the hybrid work mannequin going within the new yr, providing flexibility to employees to higher preserve work-life balance.

Hybrid work fulfils each employer-employee wants, mentioned specialists. Employees need flexibility, but in addition in-person time with their groups, colleagues and pals at work. Organisations need extra individuals again in workplaces however recognise that the world of labor has modified irrevocably- and workers will be extra productive, even whereas working in flexible models.

“Flipkart employees have been functioning in a hybrid model for the past few months now,” mentioned Krishna Raghavan, chief individuals officer, Flipkart. “We will continue to remain flexible in our approach and modify our model as needed – based on both employee needs and external factors.”

In the manufacturing sector, the place the vast majority of workers are again in workplace, Tata Steel plans to proceed with the agile working mannequin it had launched for white collar workers in the course of the pandemic. Blue collar workers are recurrently coming to work.


Categorising completely different personas

“We have seen a significant increase in the percentage of employees working from home as compared to the prepandemic era,” mentioned a Tata Steel spokesperson.

LTIMindtree calls it the Yin-Yang mannequin. It has steered away from a one-size-fits-all strategy, categorising all roles below completely different ‘personas’— client-office, work-office, hybrid and home-office—based mostly on roles, client-project requirements and private preferences “The hybrid model is here to stay, and it is unlikely that the industry will go back to fully working from offices all the time. The journey from here on will involve retaining what is best and fixing what isn’t. Like Yin and Yang, the future productivity of teams and organisations will depend on striking the right balance between working from office and home,” mentioned LTIMindtree CHRO Manoj Shikarkhane.
“As normalcy resumes, our plan is to get back most of our workforce in the office in 2023. We plan to extend the Yin-Yang model to a wider employee base and actively advance the persona-based approach.”BCG has put in place varied versatile and hybrid work fashions. “There is room for all working models to co-exist and companies that will be able to embrace flexibility in the way they work, how they work, what time they work will be able to attract, engage and retain talent better,” mentioned Suresh Subudhi, managing director and senior associate at BCG.

A November survey by HP bore this out. It discovered that the hybrid mannequin scores excessive amongst Indian workers 92% mentioned it improves work-life steadiness, 88% mentioned it will increase worker retention and 72% discovered it to be extra productive.

“For most employees, there will be no going back to the daily commute and traditional nine-to-five workday, but rather fluidity between remote and in-person work environments,” says Arvind Usretay, industrial chief, India and South Asia at administration consulting agency Mercer. “Having said so, sectoral and job role-related differences will continue to remain.”

Companies will make investments additional in perfecting their hybrid fashions and it will likely be fascinating to see how they overcome challenges of belief, collaboration, inclusion and engagement, mentioned Mercer’s Usretay.

“However, the good news is that companies are now taking decisions based on nearly three years of data, established structures and systems and equipment to support their employees aspirations and requirements,” he mentioned.

Companies mentioned they’re additionally seeing extra workers exhibiting curiosity in returning to workplace – a minimum of on some days of the week.

A certain quantity of bodily interplay is essential for culturalisation and driving innovation, mentioned Marico CHRO Amit Prakash. It’s seeing extra workers preferring to come back again to the workplace.

“We are currently in the process of evaluating the best work model for our workforce but are encouraging members to be in office,” Prakash mentioned. “At the same time, we continue to offer flexibility.”

Marico gives an possibility for location flexibility to workers based mostly on roles and particular person wants. It has helped the buyer items firm attain a bigger and numerous expertise pool.

At most of energy administration firm Eaton’s workplaces, workers are at present engaged on a 3:2 foundation — three days in and two days out of workplace. It has additionally seen an growing variety of workers eager to return to work.

However, the hybrid work pattern is right here to remain, says Ashish Kapoor, India HR director at Eaton. “Hybrid models allow employees to access remote and on-site working options and provide flexible hours that accommodate their lifestyles,” he mentioned.