The pandemic permanently rewrote the rules of where and how we work, and the companies that fail to adapt their office expectations risk losing their best talent to those that do.
Before the pandemic, many companies used to provide one day for 'work from home' to their employees to cater to the needs of the employees and also to provide them with flexibility. It was a perk, a small concession to balance personal errands with professional deadlines. But post pandemic, business leaders are forced to rethink how their companies will work in a world that is used to a new 'normal'. The shift has been dramatic. Many of the businesses have understood that working space does not mean a formal office. Besides, employees showed a more promising attitude while working from home. Productivity did not crash as many executives feared. In fact, in several sectors, output actually increased when people had control over their environment. This was even more convenient for most of the employed population. Having said that, exceptions are always there.
One of the biggest questions businesses will face this year will be 'where employees can work?' Many workers have already spent almost a year working from home. Post pandemic, when it is safer to go to the office, companies may let employees work from home two or more days per week. The weekly working option could be three days in office, two days remote and then two days off. It could be a 3-2-2 work week. This model offers a middle ground that satisfies the human need for face-to-face collaboration while respecting the deep focus that home environments can provide. It also gives companies a way to maintain culture without forcing people back into cubicles five days a week.
In the new normal employees will demand greater flexibility from companies. What sort of flexibility companies can provide will vary depending on the sector and geographic location of the companies. A software firm in Bangalore operates under very different constraints than a manufacturing company in Detroit. But it is worth paying attention to that in a post pandemic world it won't be easy to run a physical office the way it used to be. The overhead costs alone, from commercial real estate leases to daily operational expenses, are forcing finance teams to reconsider whether maintaining large office spaces still makes financial sense. Besides, not having a physical working space did not make much of a difference in people's lives. On top of that it reduces other sorts of expenditure that companies used to bear just to run an office.
In a research it is found that in sectors including software and IT services, finance and corporate services, more than two in five professionals in India believe their companies will adopt a hybrid model of both physical and remote working. The sentiment is not limited to one geography either. Across global markets, employees are voting with their preferences. Those who feel they can be productive from home expect their employers to acknowledge that reality. Those who crave the energy of a shared workspace want the option to come in without it being mandatory. The companies that listen to these signals will have a real advantage in attracting and retaining talent going forward.
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