Covid or not, remote working here to stay 

Indian companies have been hiring employees for definite work-from-home roles even as Covid-19 cases are slowing down as per a recent survey conducted by the Centre for Investment Education and Learning (CIEL), a human resources service firm. Also, about 50% of the companies have enabled the remote-working privilege for their employees. 

A hybrid working model that was adopted by many companies due to pandemics and the consequent lockdown is going to continue in the coming years, as confirmed by several companies. Companies like Tata Steel and Mondelez said that they are hiring new talent for permanent work-from-home roles. Companies like Maruti, Mphasis and ITC are either following a location-agnostic approach or sticking to a hybrid model. Industry bigwigs such as Maruti Suzuki also feel that a flexible working model ensures that productivity and efficiency are maintained irrespective of the location of the employee. 

Around 600 companies across various domains like IT, ITeS, eCommerce, BFSI, recruitment, consulting and tech were interviewed by CIEL HR. There were approximately 1000 respondents that participated in the survey. 

Aditya Mishra, Chief Executive at CIEL HR mentioned that while there is no change in salaries of existing employees in remote roles, those that are being hired for remote roles on a permanent basis are receiving 15% lower salaries. The survey also revealed that 10% of the new employees are likely to be permanent remote employees. 

As per the CIEL survey, the majority of the organizations are keen to provide permanent work from home roles to their employees while others are working on a hybrid model. Almost 50% of the employees in mid-sized IT/ITeS, Banking, Infrastructure, Retail, Chemical, Logistics and manufacturing sectors are working from offices.