With relaxations in certain sectors and slow easing off of the lockdown, a few companies have been allowed to resume functioning. Among these companies is the Bengaluru- based information technology (IT) major Infosys Ltd. is reportedly slowly opening their offices in a staggered manner while keeping in mind required guidelines and precautions.
‘Staggered resuming of work’
They stated that in the first phase of resuming operations, only about 5% of the company’s workforce, led by their chief executive will be returning to work. As 2, 42,371 employees, this translates to a little over 12,000 employees who would be working from the office.
“As lockdowns begin to ease across India, our CEO Salil Parekh, along with a few Infoscions, get back to our campuses that are equipped and prepared for the ‘new normal’,” Infosys said in a tweet on 7 May. Parekh has resumed work from the company’s Electronic City headquarters in Bengaluru.
As lockdowns begin to ease across India, our CEO Salil Parekh, along with a few Infoscions, get back to our campuses that are equipped and prepared for the ‘new normal’ with required rules and regulations in place.
“Precautions”
Infosys also stated that it has resumed operations in its Bhubaneshwar office, in Odisha.
“With temperature checks, sanitized office vehicles, alternate seating arrangements in official transport, and compulsory masks, #InfyBhubaneswar resumed its operations,” Infosys tweeted.
An Infosys spokesperson stated earlier that the pictures on Twitter are “self-explanatory” on the precautionary measures taken. The pictures show employees maintaining social distancing while queuing up near the elevators or during temperature checks at the front-desk counters.
The cafeterias have been arranged in a way that only a single person sits in a table.
“Virtual training sessions”
In March, Infosys had sent home all its trainees from the Global Education Centre, in Mysuru, as a precautionary measure against the virus outbreak. While it’s not clear yet when the training centre will open up again, “all training is going on virtually without disruptions,” the Infosys spokesperson said. An Infosys employee, who did not wish to be named, said that currently, only a few employees in critical roles seem to have started going to the office.
“It’s likely that we will work from home for some more time and will await communication from our team heads,” the employee said.
“Work from Home impact”
Infosys chief executive Salil Parekh said during the Q4 earnings that 93% of their employees are remotely working. “It is a model that we move to with extreme speed but also with extreme care keeping the employees’ safety and security in line,” he said.
“My own sense is from a business continuity perspective, over a period of time, we will always have some percentage of people working from home…so that in the event of dealing with such situations in the future, you will be able to seamlessly switch between work from the office and work from home,” U.B. Pravin Rao said in the media earnings call.
In May, industry body Nasscom said that the sector must take a phased approach with 15-20% of the workforce in Phase 1 as part of the standard operating procedure.
“Resuming work in other companies”
Infosys’ larger competitor Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Ltd has already stated that work from home will be the “new normal” and 75% of its total workforce of 4.48 lakh employees will permanently work from home by 2025.
Similarly, HCL Technologies Ltd CEO C. Vijayakumar also said during the earnings that 50% of the employees are expected to work from home in the next 12-18 months.
“…Companies are modelling out the workforce mix that they need on-premise because their productivity has been fine while working from home. We are looking at a staggered approach with 10-15% back to work by the end of May-June and, depending on the criticality, up to 20-25% for IT services. For BPM services, it is likely to be 15-30%,” said Debjani Ghosh, president, Nasscom.
