91% CEOs in India want to promote in-office employees over remote workers: Survey

Amazon employees are required to work from the office five days a week starting January 2, 2025, CEO Andy Jassy announced on Monday. (Image credit: AFP)

Ninety-one 91 percent of CEOs in India are prepared to reward employees who consistently come into the office with promotions, raises, and more favorable assignments, a recent study found. Globally, the figure stood at 87 percent. According to the KPMG 2024 CEO Outlook survey, business leaders in India are taking a firm stance on returning to pre-pandemic, in-office work models.

The report, for which 125 Indian CEOs were surveyed, stated that 78 percent of CEOs in India, compared to 83 percent globally, envision a return to an in-office working environment for their employees within the next three years. Only 14 percent of the business leaders surveyed opted for a fully remote workforce and 30 percent envisioned a hybrid working environment for corporate employees in the next three years.

"The survey has indicated that a significant portion of the CEOs in India envision a future predominantly characterised by in-office work environment," said Sunit Sinha, partner and head-human capital advisory solutions, business consulting, KPMG in India. "As the trend of employees reassessing their work preferences in the post-COVID-19 era gains momentum, it becomes imperative for businesses to gain a comprehensive understanding of the talent landscape in India."

The report comes at a time when corporate behemoths such as Amazon and Dell have been calling employees back to work, insisting they work from the office five days a week. The announcements have been met with massive clapback from the employees with 73 percent of Amazon workers considering quitting.

The findings were made public by Blind -- an anonymous job review site -- which surveyed 2,585 Amazon employees, CNBC Make It reported.

Moreover, 91 percent of the employees said that they were "overwhelmingly dissatisfied" with the return-to-office mandate with 80 percent claiming that they know of a colleague considering looking for another job. Among the workers surveyed, 32 percent said they knew someone who had already quit in response to the memo.

In the survey, these Amazon workers also wrote about how CEO Andy Jassy's announcement has been a blow to their morale.