Be careful of what you wish for, goes an old Chinese saying. Many IT sector employees who grumbled about the hours spent on the daily commute to work may finally get what they always prayed for--to work from home (WFH). But will WFH be as alluring were it to become a permanent feature of work life? That is what most IT employees will find out shortly.

If you are an IT company employee reading this, here is some news that could either depress or delight depending on where you prefer to work out of. Most IT companies CNBC-TV18 spoke to, said at least 50 percent of their employees will continue to work from home even after the lockdown restrictions are fully eased.

At present, between 90-98 percent of employees of Indian IT companies are working from home since the nationwide lockdown began in March. Some of the big names like TCS, Infosys, HCL Tech, Wipro, Tech Mahindra have 96-98 percent of their employees working from home.

While factories and offices in many parts of the country have reopened for work with limited staff, the majority of Indian IT companies will continue to have 90 percent of their employees working from home at least till August, said IT industry sources.

The situation will be reviewed in August and most likely, more than 50 percent of the staff will continue to work out of home. Some companies said they will ask 60-70 percent of their employees to work out of home beyond August.

"We are planning only a small number of employees returning to offices at this point," said Saurabh Govil, President & Chief Human Resources Officer, Wipro.

"During the initial phase, we expect only 10 percent of our workforce to return to work. These would primarily be those who are engaged in projects that haven’t received approval for work from home from the customers," Govil said.

What began as a compulsion for almost every IT company has now become a choice for two reasons: cost savings without any loss of productivity

Companies invested a lot in setting up infrastructure, getting clearances and establishing security systems to enable Work From Home and ensure that delivery timelines were met.

"With these systems in place, companies are realising that they can continue with this model not just in the near term, but even after the pandemic period is behind us.," said an HR executive of a leading IT firm who did not want to be named.

"Having 50 percent of employees working from home is the most cost-effective model explored in recent times," the executive said.

A work from home structure does two things- it reduces cost and enables a more flexible working structure. The challenge is to ensure that employees continue to perform and deliver. Utilization rate, which is the metric IT companies use to measure the work done by employees, usually suffers in times like these. If companies are able to ensure that both employee morale and utilization rates remain intact, this can be a long term positive for both companies and their employees.

But there is a hiccup here. IT firms will need clearance from clients to allow WFH for their employees. Most companies had taken permission for WFH till June. These will have to be extended and contracts will have to be amended in cases where employees may have to work from home for a longer time.

Nasscom is currently preparing a report to present to the Department of Telecom and the Labour Ministry for regulatory changes needed to facilitate this model. The industry body is seeking extension of recent concessions that allow BPO employees to work from home and even concessions like allowing movement of equipment out of Special Economic Zones.

First Published:May 14, 2020 4:05 PM IST