BackInfosys reopens offices, about 5% of staff return to work
Salil Parekh Parekh said during the company’s Q4 earnings call that 93% of its employees were working remotely
PremiumAfter a lengthy lockdown forced by the covid-19 pandemic, Bengaluru-based information technology (IT) major Infosys Ltd is gradually reopening its offices with caution. In the first phase of resuming operations, only about 5% of its workforce, led by its chief executive, will return to work. With 242,371 employees, this translates into a little over 12,000 employees.
“As lockdowns begin to ease across India, our CEO Salil Parekh, along with a few Infoscions, get back to our campuses that are equipped and prepared for the ‘new normal’," Infosys tweeted on 7 May. Parekh has resumed work from the firm’s Electronic City headquarters in Bengaluru. It also said operations were resumed at its Bhubaneswar office.
“With temperature checks, sanitized office vehicles, alternative seating arrangements in official transport, and compulsory masks, #InfyBhubaneswar resumed its operations," Infosys tweeted. An Infosys spokesperson said that the pictures on Twitter are “self-explanatory" on the precautionary measures taken. Employees are seen maintaining social distancing, while queuing up near the elevators, or during temperature checks at the front-desk counters. The cafeterias have been arranged in a way that only a single person sits at a table.
In March, Infosys had sent home all its trainees from the Global Education Centre in Mysuru as a precautionary measure. While it’s not clear yet when the training centre will open, “all trainings are going on virtually without disruptions", the spokesperson said. An Infosys staff member, requesting anonymity, said a few employees in critical roles seem to have returned to office. “It’s likely that we will work from home for some more time and will await communication from our team heads," he added.
Parekh said during the firm’s Q4 earnings call that 93% of its employees were working remotely. “It is a model that we move to with extreme speed, but also with extreme care keeping the employees’ safety and security in line."
Meanwhile, U.B. Pravin Rao, the firm’s chief operating officer, said,“My own sense is from a business continuity perspective, over a period of time, we will always have some percentage of people working from home…so that in the event of dealing with such situations in the future, you will be able to seamlessly switch between work from office and work from home."
In May, industry body National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) said the sector must take a phased approach with 15-20% of the workforce in Phase 1 as part of the standard operating procedure. Infosys’ larger rival Tata Consultancy Services Ltd has already said 75% of its workforce of 448,000 will work from home by 2025.
Similarly, HCL Technologies Ltd CEO C. Vijayakumar said on an earnings call that 50% staff are expected to work from home for 12-18 months.
“Firms are modelling out the workforce mix that they need on premise because their productivity has been fine while working from home. We are looking at a staggered approach with 10-15% back to work by May-June and, depending on the criticality, up to 20-25% for IT services. For BPM services, it is could be 15-30%," said Debjani Ghosh, president, Nasscom.
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