With the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, more than half of India’s technology workforce will start going to office at least three days a week from January 2022, a report by IT industry body NASSCOM said on November 1.

Junior management employees aged up to 25 years are most likely to start returning to office by this month, followed by senior management aged 40 and above, according to the ‘NASSCOM Return to Workplace Survey.’

The study is based on the responses of both tech employees and employers on their plans and preparedness to return to offices. The survey was conducted by NASSCOM, the apex trade body of the IT industry in association with job portal Indeed.

According to the report, about 72 percent tech firms are looking at operating with an employee capacity of 50 percent starting next year.

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Around 70 percent of organisations in the country are exploring the hybrid operating model for returning to office. In its last hiring tracker, Indeed had said employees were looking for more ‘flexible’ workplaces. “The ‘Nasscom Return to Workplace Survey’ reflects similar sentiments as more than half of employers and employees favour returning to office in a hybrid model, making it clear that the future of work is hybrid," Sashi Kumar, head of sales (India) at Indeed.com, said.

IT services and global capability centres are likely to be the first to restart offices under a long-term hybrid work model, the report said. About 57 percent tech firms will be prepared to reopen offices within three months, the report said.

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Female employees are equally excited about adapting newer working models and returning to office.

"Organisations and employees gradually realised that remote work is an outcome of the pandemic and not an evolved approach to workplace planning," Kumar said.

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The health and safety of employees is still a concern, with over 81 percent organisations surveyed marking it as a key consideration for reopening offices.

“We encourage tech companies to process the reopening in a phased and safe manner while keeping the employee's health and safety as the topmost priority," Debjani Ghosh, President of NASSCOM, said in the report.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)

First Published:Nov 1, 2021 6:44 PM IST