Are Companies Prepared to Return to Covid-era Remote Work?, ETHRWorld
Drawing parallels with the Covid-19 pandemic period, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent appeal to companies to adapt to work-from-home, online conferences and virtual meetings “in the national interest” has triggered reactions across India Inc, prompting organisations to reassess their preparedness for a potential return to remote and hybrid work models.
ETHRWorld reached out to companies to understand how prepared they are at present to return to a Covid-like work-from-home model if required, and explore if productivity and collaboration can be sustained at scale without any disruption.
Continuing the existing hybrid policy
Capgemini plans to continue with the current hybrid model, where most employees are expected to work from the office for an average of 2 to 3 days per week.
Infosys says, at present, most of its workforce is required to work from the office for at least 10 days a month, and this approach will continue.
Wipro shares that it currently follows a hybrid work model, where employees can take a two day ‘work-from-home’ per week as per their team’s requirements.
A spokesperson from Larsen & Toubro says, “We have issued internal guidelines for restricting travel and use of virtual meetings to optimise expenses due to rising flight costs.”
Kanchan Jagtap, AVP – HR Strategy & Global Programmes, Tata Technologies, says, “What started as an emergency response during the pandemic eventually became a lesson in adaptability, resilience and trust. At Tata Technologies, the existing ‘Work Mode Policy’ already enables a structured hybrid way of working, and over the past few years, organisations across industries have become significantly more prepared in terms of digital infrastructure, cybersecurity, virtual collaboration and leadership readiness than they were during the initial Covid period.”
According to Jagtap, the conversation today is far more nuanced than simply remote versus office-based work. Different roles require different levels of physical collaboration, customer engagement and infrastructure dependency. While many knowledge-led and globally connected functions can operate effectively in hybrid environments, certain roles continue to benefit from in-person interaction, specialised infrastructure and onsite collaboration.
Adarsh Mishra, Chief Human Resources Officer and Director – External Affairs & Sustainability, Panasonic Life, says, “Our stronger digital infrastructure advancements have enhanced our ability to ensure business continuity and agility. We believe the future of work lies in achieving the right balance. Hybrid models offer flexibility while continuing to enable in-person collaboration, which remains essential for innovation, mentoring and building a strong sense of belonging. We recognise that different roles have varied requirements and continue to adopt a flexible, role-aligned approach. We are closely monitoring the evolving situation and will introduce additional flexibility wherever needed.”At Sagility (formerly HGS Healthcare), more than half of the global workforce continues to operate remotely in a highly compliant environment, supported by ecosystem alignment across clients, vendors, partners, leadership teams and employees.
Tina Vas, CHRO, Sagility, shares that Sagility is very prepared to return to a Covid-like work-from-home model, considering the organisation is not very far from that reality even today.
“In the US geography, close to 99 per cent of the workforce continues to operate remotely, while across other geographies, close to half of the workforce continues to work in remote or hybrid setups. While an absolute move to a 100 per cent remote workforce may still come with certain challenges, this has already been baked into the overall workplace strategy schema through strong business continuity planning and evolving distributed workforce models,” says Vas.
According to Vas, it is not necessarily a specific job role or department alone that defines suitability for a renewed work-from-home push. Factors such as the degree of collaboration required, the role and seniority of the individual within the team structure, availability of technology infrastructure, compliance requirements and operational dependencies all play an important role in determining workforce flexibility within Sagility.
“Over the years, the maturity of managing a physically distant workforce has evolved consistently across technology readiness, behavioural adaptability, stakeholder management and operational preparedness, making the transition significantly more structured than it was during the pandemic years. While there are still both challenges and enablements within remote work models, there is now greater receptiveness toward transitioning into work-from-home setups,” Vas adds.
She points out that employee experience and employee satisfaction (ESAT) outcomes are not always uniform for fully remote employees compared to those operating in hybrid or office-based environments. Therefore, Sagility focuses on designing tailored engagement plans, talent development approaches, and workforce strategies across multiple use cases as there are also different workforce personas that need to be accounted for while designing sustainable remote work strategies—one being employees who strongly prefer permanent remote work, and another being employees who value physical workplace interaction and in-person collaboration. Because of this, no single framework can universally apply across all workforce segments.
Virtual settings have not yet fully replicated the in-person collaborations
Bhagwati Chhabbarwal Shetty, CHRO, Comviva, says, “Our preparedness is structural. Clearer norms now exist on when to ‘leverage remote work’ versus ‘in-person collaboration,’ a distinction that was largely absent in 2020 and that makes a material difference to how work gets designed and delivered today. Having never fully reverted to a five-day office model post-pandemic, hybrid ways of working have remained the sustained mode of operation rather than an occasional accommodation. Our workforce, systems and processes are already aligned to flexi-working, which significantly reduces the friction of any transition to a fully remote setup. Continuity of performance in a remote environment is less a function of physical oversight and more a function of shared accountability and mutual trust—and that foundation is well established.”
“Virtual settings have not yet fully replicated the collaboration and complex problem-solving that benefit from in-person interactions. The quality of engagement, the speed of alignment, and the depth of creative exchange are all meaningfully different when people are physically present. A balanced approach that leverages remote working for focused execution and efficiency, and reserves office time for co-creation and high-stakes problem-solving, is where the most sustainable outcomes are found,” Shetty points out.
He further highlights that productivity can be sustained at organisations with ‘mature flexible working’ and consistent outcome-driven cultures. He shares what works in the current scenario:
- Roles that are individual-contribution driven or digital in nature adapt seamlessly to remote work.
- The more careful consideration applies to functions requiring high collaboration, innovation or stakeholder engagement.
- Beyond function type, there is also the dimension of career stage. Early-career professionals, for whom proximity to experienced colleagues is critical to learning and growth, warrant particular attention in any renewed WFH framework.
“A hybrid model that tailors flexibility based on role needs rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach remains the most responsible and effective path forward,” Shetty says.
Standardised remote work protocols
Tony Joseph, CHRO, 1Point1 Solutions, points out that the gap between 2020 and today is enormous. Back then, WFH was reactive, but today, readiness is structural. Right from infrastructure to secure remote access, cloud-based platforms and workforce management tools, things are already aligned in place. Many of the processes were redesigned post-pandemic with a hybrid-ready mindset. So, if a return to full-time ‘work-from-home’ is called for, in the national interest or otherwise, it won’t be much trouble.
1Point1 Solutions has standardised remote work protocols and a workforce that is far more digitally literate. “Manager capability has evolved, too, with team leads today knowing how to drive outcomes through screens, not just by walking the floor. Perhaps the most significant shift is cultural. Employees no longer see WFH as a disruption; many see it as a preference. At the same time, as an organisation we have also learnt what we lost in the process–the informal mentoring, the spontaneous collaboration and the energy of a shared workspace. So, our readiness today isn’t just about logistics; it’s about being intentional about what we preserve and what we replicate virtually,” Joseph says.
A blanket WFH policy won’t work
Commenting on whether productivity and collaboration can be sustained at scale in a fully remote setup today, Joseph says, “Productivity? Yes – and in many cases, measurably so. Collaboration is a more nuanced answer. Task-based collaboration, where teams solve defined problems together, can absolutely be replicated virtually. But the deeper, relational kind of collaboration, the kind that drives innovation, mentors junior talent, and builds organisational culture, remains a challenge in a fully remote environment.”
According to Joseph, the answer isn’t all-or-nothing. It’s about designing for intentional connection, not just presence. The tools exist. The mindset is what needs deliberate investment. “Roles like back-office, analytics, finance support, QA, and HR operations adapt well to WFH – outcomes are measurable, and workflows are structured. Live voice operations with strict compliance requirements and roles involving new hires or trainees are harder to sustain remotely. Onboarding someone into a complex client process in isolation is a risk we can’t take lightly. A blanket WFH policy won’t work; instead, a smarter approach is role-specific, not organisation-wide,” he points out.
Knowledge-driven functions work in a remote or hybrid setup
Sriram V, CHRO, BankBazaar, says, “We are already operating in a highly flexible work environment, and hence, moving back to a Covid-like remote model would not require a major shift. The pandemic helped us build strong systems around virtual collaboration, remote onboarding and outcome-driven performance management.”
BankBazaar doesn’t measure the team’s success by logged hours. Most knowledge-driven functions, including HR, technology, finance, marketing and communications, work in a remote or hybrid setup. Even sales teams benefit from flexibility by engaging customers directly from the field. However, some roles require more structured environments. Customer calling operations, for instance, can face practical challenges at home due to background noise and the need for uninterrupted interactions.
“We have seen that employees perform better when they have greater flexibility and fewer commute-related disruptions. Our employees have the autonomy to work from anywhere, without arbitrary geographical constraints. Collaboration is sustained through trust and supportive weekly reviews rather than constant monitoring,” Sriram says.
He adds, “Importantly, remote work has also improved employee wellbeing for many people, which directly influences performance. Being an impact-based organisation, we are driven by the belief that as long as goals, communication and accountability remain strong, location becomes secondary to impact.”
Carpooling and responsible commuting
Jonika Jain, CHRO, Edme Insurance Brokers, shares that they are in a much better place than in 2020. “Back then, remote work was thrust upon us overnight, and we figured it out as we went. Today, the systems and mindset exist, and people know how to use them. For a corporate insurance broking firm, this becomes even more relevant as we continue to strengthen our presence across multiple geographies in the near future. The ability to collaborate seamlessly across locations, service clients remotely and access talent beyond one city or country makes flexible work models far more practical and strategic today than they were a few years ago,” she says.
“We promote a culture of work-from-home whenever and wherever possible, while ensuring business continuity and seamless collaboration. We encourage initiatives such as carpooling and responsible commuting as part of doing our bit as a responsible organisation in the current environment,” Jain adds.
The future is hybrid rather than fully remote
Sharing his view, Rajesh Jain, Group Chief People Officer, Vishvaraj Environment, says, “The future is firmly hybrid rather than 100 per cent remote, because culture-building, mentoring and complex problem-solving still benefit meaningfully from in-person presence. On readiness, all of us have internalised the rhythms of remote working since 2020; most organisations, including ours, can step into a hybrid model quickly. The pandemic built a new life skill, and that muscle memory has stayed with both employees and organisations.”
He adds, “We are now far more fluent with collaborative tools like MS Teams, Google Meet, Zoom, SharePoint and Google Drive, and our processes for virtual onboarding, reviews and approvals have matured significantly. All our enterprise and project management applications already support remote working. A short planning sprint to refresh protocols, devices, VPN access, and expectations is really all most organisations would need to switch modes. The advent of AI will further help.”
According to Jain, roles tied to physical assets or on-ground execution like manufacturing, construction, plant maintenance, last-mile delivery, frontline retail and field services, will continue to require physical presence. “Almost every other function can be handled remotely with the right tools, governance and connectivity. The real differentiator is not the function itself but the maturity of the digital workflows around it. For organisations already invested in cloud-based systems and asynchronous ways of working, a renewed WFH or hybrid working push is far more an operational decision than a capability question,” he says.
