As TCS, Wipro and Apple prepare to bring people back to work, there are many lessons from the last 18 months to consider

At the onset of the pandemic, in what was an unprecedented shift, work from home turned out to be the norm rather than the anomaly.

While companies have benefitted from reduced costs, employees too have become habitual of working from home. However, at the same time, increasing vaccination coverage has made the likelihood of the economy opening brighter. There are also real concerns of data security and compliance, talent management and maintenance of company culture looming over corporations, which are pulling them away from the prospect of making work entirely remote even when it is possible.

Currently, tech behemoths such as Infosys, Apple and Wipro are planning to open their offices in varying capacities in the future. This has been made possible by ensuring employee vaccination, and taking direct feedback from them.

NASSCOM has fully adopted the hybrid work model by following all COVID 19 protocols such as limited office occupancy, better ventilation, social distancing, etc. HCL Tech has moved one step further by provisioning on-campus vaccination for the employees and their families.

While there is no consensus on the optimal mix of home vs. office, companies will have to decide the contours of a hybrid model based on factors like client requirements, cost of real estate, and the strength of their data and information security systems. Chief Human Resource Officers from some of India’s top companies ⁠— from Marico to Piramal Group and Tech Mahindra to CRISIL ⁠— will be exchanging experiences from the last 18 months and their ideas for the road ahead, at Business Insider’s Future of Work Summit

Top executives such as Nitin Sethi, chief executive officer for human solutions at AON in India and South Asia, and Dan Schawbel, the founder of Workplace Intelligence, will share insights on how to build a collaborative work environment, and how technology can drive digital transformations for the new normal.

In order to re-define business-as-usual to include hybrid working with minimal disruption, companies might need to lead through empathy, and implement the people before strategy approach in the workspace in the coming decade.

New opportunities for innovation would also open up with the digital infrastructure that supports the constant upgrades in technology. The challenge is to be conscious of the advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning while using the energy of a new generation of tech savvy millennials adequately.

The future of work is unravelling in front of you. Empower yourself with information and insights to deal with it. Be part of Business Insider’s Future of Work Summit 2021 on September 16 and 17.


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