As all of us in the organized and the unorganized sectors across industry sectors gingerly enter Q3 of the FY 21-22, and as the threat of Wave 3 of Covid steadily diminishes, it is time for the organizations to revisit their business and manpower plans. The Indian economy is certainly on a rebound and this has been confirmed with predictions of around 9.5% GDP by leading rating agencies….and with the mojo back with the industry, hiring plans are also firming up for the rest of FY 22, and beyond.

So here are a few visible changes in the wake of the hopefully receding pandemic….

• A hybrid model (WFH + WFO + WFA) is here to stay for all those functions where work performed is location agnostic – so long as adequate communication and secure infra is in place
• Companies need not necessarily operate from high-wage islands like NCR / MMR / Bengaluru, and have been looking at talent from Tier II / III cities to perform work at a much reduced cost
• The hybrid model also opens up a lot of opportunities for Diversity and Inclusion and could allow for a more stable workforce
• However, it is imperative that organizations (including Staffing Companies) evolve mechanisms to (a) train, and (b) monitor such remote staff to extract the minimum expected productivity. These are the most difficult tasks and quite frankly, employers will still have to largely depend on “trust factor” with each of their employees
• A lot of individual tasks can have measurable targets where daily / weekly / monthly outputs can be monitored but tasks which require team interaction can always be challenging in a remote environment – unless team is well-bonded and aligned to the objectives
• While the operations of “business as usual” can still be carried out in the WFA / remote format, I feel that for capturing growth opportunities and deliberating on growth strategies, in-person interaction amongst the stake-holders for brain-storming is imperative, and organizations will take cautious steps to allow such in-person meetings
• Even though for the past 15+ odd months, I have not had to meet a single client in person, I feel that once the threat of pandemic abates substantially, organizations will encourage in-person client meetings in order to have deeper conversations / engagements with clients……..
• The current practices of Zoom / MS Teams virtual meetings are far too transactional to build long-term relationships with own team members and with clients which require an emotional investment for future growth

All in all…interesting times unfold for all of us in the future on the work / personal fronts ….and I hope all of us will be able to leverage the learnings from the pandemic to grow our businesses and yet  stay safe.

 

Author
Chandrakiran Tambe, Managing Director at Datamatics Staffing Services Ltd.