A new study from Gartner titled ‘Future of Work Trends post-COVID-19’ predicts that companies will focus on geographically diversifying and investing into secondary markets to meet demand for increased flexibility.
Remote working has allowed organizations to manage their operations for the time being, but many workers are expressing the desire to come back into the office.
This means that companies will need to find flexible solutions in their workplace offerings and employee expectations.
For instance, Tata Steel’s ‘Agile Working Models’ policy was created to move towards a “trust and outcome-based working culture” in order to retain top talent and improve the overall satisfaction of their employees.
“Flexible working provides greater freedom to choose locations and make essential life decisions such as supporting families, be it ageing parents or spouses with non-transferrable jobs,” said Suresh Dutt Tripathi, VP Human Resource Management at Tata Steel. “This will help in retaining and enriching our key talent from across the country and attract workforce for location agnostic roles.”
This has led to the emergence of the hybrid work arrangement, which allows employees to essentially work from anywhere. Many major companies, including Microsoft, have opted for a hybrid work policy in order to reap the benefits of both remote working and in-person collaboration.
“Backed by advanced IT infrastructure, the new model will give employees options of both physical and virtual interactions, and allow them to seamlessly work in a virtual environment while managing their professional and personal lives,” said Ruchu Bhalla, India’s Country Head at tech firm Pitney Bowes.
