Edition: June 29th, 2021
Curated by the Knowledge Team of ICS Career GPS
Excerpts from article Saritha Rai, published in Bloomberg
The pandemic has changed the nature of work, accelerating the adoption of digital technologies by at least a decade and ushering in a hybrid model where work extends beyond offices and engages more women.
While the office remains a critical hub and staff will gradually return, the world won’t return to its pre-COVID norm. Workplaces will benefit from allowing staff greater leeway with the help of technology.
When the pandemic hit India in early 2020, Tata, the 150-year-old steel-to-airlines conglomerate scrambled to adapt to lockdown restrictions.
At Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. – its largest company by employee numbers and profitability – nearly half a million workers began working from home within weeks, continuing to deliver software projects and support to Wall Street banks, retailers and airlines.
Offices in 2025
Tata Consultancy declared early on it expects only a fourth of its workforce to be in the office on any given day by 2025. Yet many of its employees asked for a return to the office.
Companies will have to adopt a model somewhere in-between, Tata Sons Pvt Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran said during a session about the future of work.
“If the hybrid model has to work, let’s not think of it as only office and home. There’s going to be a concept of a third place. I call it a ‘third place,’ you may want to call it a satellite office.”
Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons
In India’s case, it could also see improved workplace diversity, another positive outcome of a hybrid model.
Only 23% of women who could be potentially working are in the workforce because of issues like commuting, lack of social infrastructure such as child care, etc.
We should not miss this opportunity, it is not just good for GDP and growth, but also it is the right thing to do.
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article mentioned above are those of the author(s). They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of ICS Career GPS or its staff.)
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