As Infosys accelerates pace of vaccination for its employees, it may see 20-30% of workforce coming to office over the next six months, if the impact of the subsequent wave is minimal.
The Bengaluru-based IT major has vaccinated 58 percent of employees with first dose and 10 percent with both the doses. Infosys had ordered 5 lakh doses, of which 2.3 lakh has been consumed so far. This includes 1.2 lakh employees who have gotten the jab, most of them first doses, and the rest were used for dependents.
Earlier, India’s largest IT services provider TCS said it aims to get its over 5 lakh employees vaccinated by September and have them back to office on a regular basis.
Speaking to media while announcing the company’s first quarter results on July 14, Rao said, “Nature of the pandemic is that we will continue to see multiple waves. While India is expecting a third wave, some of the other geographies have already seen the impact of the third wave. In the long run, getting majority of the population vaccinated and following best practices at least for the near future is the only solution.”
Rao further said, “Our expectation is that over the next six months or so, assuming that impact of the subsequent wave is minimal, we expect may be 20-30 percent of the employees to start coming to office."
This could vary from geography to geography, nature of projects, client requirements, and individual preferences, he added.
However, there are challenges. While vaccine supply is no longer an issue, with most employees working from their homes, many in tier 2 and 3 cities, where the company might not have hospital tie-ups. In addition, there is also hesitancy among employees for returning to work. However, Rao said the company was working on addressing the issue and over the next 3-6 months will encourage more employees to come back to work.
In the meantime, the current wave of working will continue. Over the last few quarters, the company has transitioned to working from home and had on-boarded people virtually. Between the first and second wave, while the company saw 5 percent of population come back to work, post the second wave most went back to work from home, and this is likely to continue.
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