Coronavirus impact: Remote working could become the new normal in India

A financial services firm in Mumbai is holding a virtual townhall on April 20 to check the feasibility of allowing 50 percent of the staff to work from home for the next three months (after May 3) amidst the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. The company’s idea is to facilitate workplace safety even after the second lockdown ends on May 3.

Remote working or work-from-home was seen as an ‘excuse for not working’ by India Inc. But the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the perception of the companies to an extent that these firms are willing to experiment with the idea for a few more months.

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“There is a definite cost saving that can be done in terms of water usage, fuel expense allowances and power consumption at the work-stations if some individuals are allowed to work from home. If the business is not hampered why shouldn’t we allow it,” said the human resource head of the company quoted above.

To minimise the spread of COVID-19 in India, the government enforced a 21-day lockdown which was to end on April 14 midnight. However, with the rise in the number of positive cases, the lockdown has been extended till May 3.

The lockdown had forced companies to allow remote working to the staff, except for those employed in the essential services.

“Earlier there was a skepticism that working from home is not effective. However, companies have now realised that this is a myth and hence would allow more people to work-from-home this year,” said Aditya Narayan Mishra, CEO, CIEL HR Services.

Among companies, it is likely that only individuals in field jobs like sales or client/customer-facing roles in banks, retail, advertising, media, FMCG and technology firms would be required to report to work for the most part of 2020. Staff in manufacturing facilities would not get any exemptions.

Apart from the fact that remote working helps save costs and time, safety is also being cited as a reason to promote this idea.

The India head of a global staffing firm said that in the absence of a vaccine companies are worried about making all employees report to work.

“There could be an asymptomatic employee who could potentially infect the entire office. In India, offices are crowded workspaces and hence it is better to err on the side of caution. Among our corporate clients, remote working extension will be given to employees with children below five years of age and those who live with ailing parents,” he added.

Also Read: Are Indian companies ready for remote working?

Due to the Coronavirus situation, almost 4-5 million Indian employees have been working from home since mid-March. Companies have also not reported any losses that have been specifically linked to remote working.

“There was a stigma attached to remote working across companies. It was a belief that employees working from home would not be serious about the daily operations and would be less attentive. Unless the employee faces customers or has to attend a strategy meeting, there is actually no need to turn up to work. We are in fact slower than the peers to allow remote working because we were not sure how effective it would be,” said the chief executive officer of an electrical goods firm.

Unlike its peers that had announced remote working from March 14 onwards for corporate office staff, this company only allowed it from March 26. A part of this company is categorised as essential services since it provides wires, cables meant to keep power generation services up and running.

In a recent interaction with Moneycontrol, Bajaj Allianz Life MD & CEO Tarun Chugh also agreed that work-from-home would be the new normal in India for the near term.

“If the lockdown ends, it does not mean that people will suddenly go start going to offices. Work-from-home is here and setting into Indian culture. Even three months hence, there would be enough people doing remote working,” added Chugh.

Though initial glitches were faced by companies on connectivity, providing laptops and personal computers to work on, industry sources said that infrastructure challenges of remote working have been ironed out over a month.

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