Indeed, the world’s #1 job site today launched a new report – “Third Wave and the future of Remote/Hybrid Work”. The report’s findings suggest that the Covid-19 has given rise to trends – some new and some resurgent. One resurgent trend is the rising popularity of remote work and hybrid work.
As per the new report, 60% of the employees surveyed Remote work has been the biggest work trend, post-pandemic, followed by Hybrid work (42%). Employers share a similar view, with 64% considering Remote work, followed by Hybrid work (45%), to be the biggest trends.
In comparison, Digitization/automation (20% of the employees surveyed and 22% of the employers surveyed) and Increase in Gig work/freelancing (25% of employees and 27% of employers), are trends not ranked as highly by both employees and employers. Still, 62% employers in small sized organizations and 40% in MSMEs consider Increase in Gig work/freelancing to be the biggest trend so far post-pandemic.
Other key findings from the report include:
The Omicron wave is disrupting India Inc’s workplace
The Omicron wave struck just when businesses were looking to get back some semblance of stability and reopen office spaces for their employees. The findings reveal that the recent wave has extended the status quo for employees and has adversely affected employers’ plans of resuming work from office.
34% of the employees say they continue to work from home and 26% say they continue to work from the office – maintaining the status quo. A significantly lower 16% had planned to work from office but the plans were foiled by the Omicron wave.
On the other hand, the omicron variant has forced many companies to revisit their back-to-the-office plans. Three quarters (75%) of employers say the recent wave has affected their back-to-office plans. 87% of the large sized, 74% of the medium sized and 65% of the small sized organizations say their plans of working from office have been disrupted. 85% of the MNCs surveyed are also most affected by it, followed by startups (76%) and MSMEs (64%).
Among the sectors, IT/ITeS (96%) and Telecommunications (89%) are the most affected. Travel and Hospitality (60%) is the least affected, followed by Healthcare & Pharma and Automobile (both 65%).
The new wave has not significantly impacted work modes. Two-thirds of all employees (66%) say their mode of work remains unchanged, after Omicron struck.
The future of remote/hybrid work
Almost all large organizations have preferred either Remote (63%) or Hybrid work (30%). Currently, 58% of the medium sized organizations surveyed work from home and 58% of the small businesses work from the office. Nearly half of all MSMEs work from the office (48%). Top sectors that follow a work from home mode include IT/ITeS (80%), Telecommunications (71%), E-Commerce (66%), Automobile (45%). Over the next 2-3 years, 44% of the employees surveyed want to be working remotely, while a slightly lower proportion would prefer to work from offices. Hybrid work is preferred by an even lower 24%. Over the same time span, nearly half (47%) of the employees believe that remote/hybrid work will be very sustainable and 28% believe it will be somewhat sustainable. The remainder (25%) do not like to vouch for remote/hybrid work for the future.
Meanwhile, 79% employers expect less than 50% of their workforce to be working remote/hybrid in the coming 2-3 years. A good 40% believe that less than 10% will work remote/hybrid.
The proportion of employers expecting more than 50% of their workforce to work remote/hybrid is, therefore, a relatively low 21%. A minor, 4% of all employers surveyed expect all of their employees to work remote/hybrid over the next 2-3 years.
Extra benefits in demand
A considerable 58% of employees say their employers reimburse remote work expenses incurred. The rest of the employees are nearly equally split between remote work expenses being high (22%, with 14% saying costs have increased after the Omicron wave struck) and remote work expenses being manageable (20%). On the other hand, slightly more than half of all employers either already compensate for remote work (30%) or are planning to do so (26%). 36% employers, however, do not have any plans to compensate employees for their work from home expenses, and 8% believe that this is a manageable expense in their case.
The future of workplaces
Migration to hometowns or to places employees choose to work from, with no brief from the employer, is a significant trend but restricted to 30% of all employees surveyed. Of this, 20% of the employees are working from their hometowns, and 10% have relocated to a place of their own choosing.
42% employees who work remotely say they are currently working in the city where they were originally hired, 20% are working from their hometown, and 28% work from another place as deputed by their company.
