Hyderabad: Many IT companies are beginning to feel that productivity is being affected due to employees continuing to work from home (WFH). Reason? A large part of the old staff has moved out. The new teams replacing them have not spent enough time in the office to understand the work culture and deliverables. There is also knowledge transfer (…)
Updated – August 12, 2022, 06:44 pm
Hyderabad: Many IT companies are beginning to feel that productivity is being affected due to employees continuing to work from home (WFH).
Reason? A large part of the old staff has moved out. The new teams replacing them have not spent enough time in the office to understand the work culture and deliverables. Knowledge transfer is also slow due to distance barriers.
Earlier, many companies had reported increased productivity due to WFH. Many staff members were then associated with the respective teams. The added flexibility of working from home motivated them to give their best. But things have changed due to mass resignations, also known as Great Attrition, where employees left organizations in large numbers. The result was that new teams came in their place.
“When WFH was implemented two years ago, companies did not face much problem as they had a workforce that knew the project requirements and worked accordingly while working from a remote location. Now, WFH is not helping companies as new teams have come in after the wave of big downsizing,” said Manisha Sabu, president of Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association, an IT industry body.
IT/ITES in Telangana directly employs about 7.8 lakh people. More than 1.53 lakh jobs were added in 2021-22. The employment number in 2020-21 was 6,28,615. Sector exports stood at Rs 1,83,569 crore for 2021-22 and Rs 1,45,522 crore for 2020-21.
“About 40-70% of the workforce is new. They are not yet familiar with new work, teams, customer requirements and related aspects in companies. Many of the new joiners have not visited the current employer premises before,” Sabu said, explaining the difficulty in managing new teams.
“We do not expect everyone to work from offices as they did before Covid. But we would love to see more staff at campuses at least a few times each week. Companies are taking cautious steps so as not to trigger another attrition cycle by insisting on full attendance on campuses,” she explained.
The attrition rate now ranges between 15-22% in the IT sector and 30-50% in the BPO segment. A wave of mass resignations drove it up but it is now trending downward as employees move into new roles. Regarding the reasons for high attrition, Sabu said that many companies have grown significantly in the last two years but they are facing shortage of talented manpower. “Many companies had to hire at higher prices. Some employees even received offers that were 80-140% more than their existing packages,” he said about recent workforce trends.
Companies have closed support facilities like daycare. Now, in the absence of such facilities, it is only possible to work remotely while working and taking care of children. The transport has been made one-way only for women who logout after 8 pm. The hassle of traveling on one’s own is also a factor in choosing WFH, said an IT employee. Some companies had previously deployed their fleets for mass transportation. But this is no longer viable due to less number of employees coming to office.
“Employees do not have proper infrastructure to work effectively from home. This results in low productivity and poor quality of service to customers. Additionally, WFH is reducing an employee’s bond with the company and coworkers. This is encouraging many people to look for better opportunities, resulting in leaving jobs,” said Oruganti Venkat, managing director of Lasya Infotech and president of Kompally IT Entrepreneurs Association.
According to Shailja Garimella, director of HR, admin and facilities at PackterEdge, getting employees involved in the office a few days a week will help create a sense of belonging, improve productivity and create a cohesive environment for client-facing teams. His company is encouraging employees to come to campus at least three times a week. The current occupancy is 50% and is expected to increase to 75% later this year. The flexi-working model has reduced the attrition rate, he said.
“The trend of great resignations is slowing. It’s all going to be a hybrid model, which will be a win-win situation for employees and employers. We are now at the point where employees decide to work from the office in case of important or time-bound activities and WFH,” said Brahmandlapalli Kalyan Gupta, MD, APAC, Kagool.