IT firms in two minds over work from office

Hyderabad: Even as fears of the third wave of Covid are still lingering, some of the companies with low employee count are making it mandatory for workers to come back to office. While major IT companies are continuing to offer work from home flexibility, a few other companies are experimenting with hybrid models.

Currently, just about 8 per cent of the total workforce in the city’s IT industry has been working out of offices, Krishna Yedula, secretary general, Cyberabad security council, said. Although several companies are preparing to get employees back to office, at least partially, a section of companies are not fully ready to open owing to the bad experiences during the second wave of the pandemic.

“Our company has already alerted us to be prepared to return to office in January. However, nothing is for sure at the moment,” said Venkatesh Pulluri, a techie who is working from his Karimnagar home. Although it was fun to be working from home initially, it is now getting too cumbersome with extended hours of work, he added.

While the overall mood is to continue being cautious about going back to normal, there is increasing demand for companies to improve the work environment in offices. “Offices need to be redesigned to provide cross-ventilation. Also, medical help in case of emergency should be made available before bringing employees back to office,” said Praveen Chandrahas of the Forum for IT Professionals. “We should also consider improving public transport in the city,” he added.

Some of the major companies have extended work from home until June next year. Despite challenges like having to work for extended hours, most employees are unwilling to come back to the office.