Information technology companies' return to office in 2021 will be gradual with no perceptible alter by end of March
Return to Office (RTO) will peak towards the end of 2021 and will never be 100 percent, revealed as per the study by Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association (HYSEA), the apex body of IT and ITeS companies in Hyderabad.

60 percent of the companies plan to have less than 20 percent of their workforce working from the office by the end of March 2021. But there will be a significant increase of 40 percent in Work from Office (WFO) numbers by end of June.

The study further reveals that almost 75 percent of large and very huge companies are planning only 0-9 percent of workers working from office by the end of March. By June 2021, the WFO percentage is likely to touch 20 and in quite a number of cases, WFO is expected to touch 30 percent. By December 2021, the likely WFO rate for large and very large companies is 50-70 percent.

As numerous big firms have detailed that a significant rate of their employees is working from outside Hyderabad (local places), RTO will become that much more time-consuming and complex considering the reverse migration that needs to happen in huge numbers, the study report included.

While Covid cases in Hyderabad seem to decline, it noted that there is a talk of a potential second wave from authentic medical sources and there is also uncertainty regarding vaccine availability and percolation.

Productivity proceeds to be very high, in spite of numerous large companies reporting that the work environment at home is the single largest factor affecting Work From Home (WFH). Most large companies have managed the representative well-being and inclusivity well with exceptionally few observations here and there. This shows the resilience of the industry, it added.

The IT/ITES industry in Hyderabad has over 5.82 lakh employees working in 1,500 companies. The sector had clocked exports of over Rs 1.28 lakh crore during 2019-20. The participating companies were defined as micro (0-100 employees), small (101-500 employees), medium (501-1,000 employees), large (1,001-5,000), and very large (more than 5,000 employees). The respondents include all sectors of the IT Industry, including IT Services, IT Products, and IT-enabled Services.

Moreover to be noted is that within the last 9 months, as it were 20 percent of the LVL companies have terminated some office space within the last few months. The majority have held on to the status quo and not anticipated any increased office space requirement post-RTO. The patterns clearly point that WFH will remain the status quo for the majority in 2021 as well.

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