INTERVIEW: Tech Mahindra wants 25-30% of its employees working from home permanently by June 2021 — CFO explains how they got to that number

• Tech Mahindra has plans for 25% to 30% of its workforce to be permanently working from home within the next four quarters — by March or June 2021.
• Tech Mahindra CFO Manoj Bhat told Business Insider that this will mean a change in policies, facilities and even bring about a new model to attract talent.
• He also explained the rationale behind deciding upon one-third workforce being moved to WFH.
• Check out the latest news and updates at Business Insider.

Even as companies grapple to align their business operations with the ‘new normal’ post this pandemic, many companies are already making remote work a permanent part of their day-to-day operations — and this list now includes Tech Mahindra.

Tech Mahindra CFO Manoj Bhat told Business Insider that at least 25% to 30% of the company’s employees will be permanently working from home even after the lockdown lifts. “This will mean change in policies, change in our facilities, creating a new model to attract talent — all of those changes will come in,” he said.

And, Tech Mahindra plans to hit that number within the next four quarters. “Maybe by March or June next year,” added Bhat.

Among the top tier IT companies in India, Infosys continues to mull over whether work from home is here to stay. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), on the other hand, announced its own plans to make work from a home a permanent part of its operating model last quarter with the 25/25 model. HCL Technologies too has a 50/50 long-term vision for work from home but it's not set in stone yet.


Why one-third of the workforce?
“We did an analysis of what kind of work streams are involved, where are the areas where it is more amenable to work from over a long period of time without any potential risks,” explained Bhat on how Tech Mahindra arrived at its range of 25% of 30% of its employees permanently working from home.

He added that it will also be a mix of working from home and coming into the office for employees. “We have picked up that continuously working from home, there is an element of becoming distant and not connected,” he said.


TCS’ new 25/25 model proposes that only 25% of the employees will be in the office and any one employee will only spend 25% of their time in office. India’s biggest IT company plans to have all the kinks worked out in the next five years.


HCL Tech’s plan is to have 50% of its employees work from home and only 50% in the office over the next 12-18 months and reassess from there.


The government has already extended the connectivity norms to allow IT and BPO company employees to continue working from home till the end of the year.

SEE ALSO:
Indian government extends work from home norms for IT and BPO companies till the end of the year

Infosys is still on the fence when it comes to making work from home a permanent change

Twitter just told employees they can work from home permanently