Many Indian companies including advertising firm Wunderman Thompson are in process to frame a long term policy of Work From Home (WFH) for half of their employees. Marico is taking the help of an external consultant to make 40 per cent of its employees work from home.
Company’s chief HR Officer Amit Prakash said, “There have been many learnings on the advantages and productivity benefits that work from home brings. We have broadly decided at Marico to continue with WFH for 40% of our office-based employees. For this, we are gearing towards required processes and system changes. We will continue to operate out-of-home in June. In July, we will take a call on whether we need to allow a certain percentage of employees to work out of office. We are more concerned with the safety of our employees, and WFH is delivering the desired results. Our junior managers in Mumbai have managed to finish critical projects at a quicker pace because they now save two-three hours of travel time”.
Managing Director and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India, Martin Schwenk said that the company is looking to mandate only three working days in office each week and two days of Work From Home for employees applicable after resuming operations in the corporate office and factory.
He said, “The new normal is a mix of online and offline. It is a mix of both. I am impressed with how well it works. I now find that WFH works really well and I am very comfortable. This new normal is a clever idea. It reduces travel, reduces emissions, saves hours in both directions of travelling. We should work two days per week after this experience”.
South Asia Chairman and Group CEO of Wunderman Thompson, Tarun Rai said, “I have always been focused on our people’s output than how many hours they spend in the office. So, for me, it came as no surprise to find that our people worked efficiently and responsibly from home. They have been as productive, if not more, than before. It would be such a shame to not take some of the lessons of Work From Home into our regular work lives once things go back to normal. I believe in a 50- 50 ratio solution which is, to make it mandatory to have no more than 50% of the staff on any given day in office. It can be done. If we can operate with 100% of our staff at home, we can certainly attempt the 50% option and make it work.”
KPMG India has decided to only operate with only 33 per cent of the staff at the office in phase 1 on a rational basis. India Partner and head of KPMG, Unmesh Pawar said, “At KPMG India, 33% of the staff will have access to an office in phase 1 on a rotational basis. “We are encouraging our employees to work from home or clients’ locations, as the need may be, and asking them to avoid the unnecessary commute. KPMG already has Flexi policies wherein employees can work from home, based on their needs”.
Companies believe Work from Home would help them hunt the best talents for employee positions as Physical distance will not impose a problem then. Also, the new method will help employees to cut on travel cost and time and thus, enabling them to feel less stressed and more productive.