As WFH rules ease, onus on India Inc to sustain biz

NEW DELHI: In view of Centre’s recent initiative to make Work From Home (WFH) and Work From Anywhere (WFA) permanent features for the IT/ITeS/BPO sectors, companies will have to gear up for this new normal to implement it as a long term strategy.

This move can be a game changer for the IT and BPO industry, positioning India as a global outsourcing hub leading to job creation beyond the metros. The changes will enable companies to attract talent from anywhere, reduce costs of operations while also accelerate development and use of new human resources, marketing, sales, business development and other practices to ensure high productivity.

Karthikeyan Natarajan, President and COO, Cyient, hailed the government’s move, stating that the liberalised guidelines will help plan workforce and customer delivery as well as create jobs in Tier-2 and 3 cities, given that the pandemic might be a reality for the next two years.”

Startups involved in training and skilling the workforce to enable them to efficiently conduct business online are optimistic about the future.

Shammi Pant, Co-founder, mYJen, which provides AI based communications skills coaching tools, is looking forward to tapping the tremendous opportunity of reinventing and transforming the workplace.

On the other side of the spectrum, companies too are actively attempting to address these issues based on the learning from more than six months of WFH now.

Rajiv Bhalla, MD, Barco India, said “As we navigate through the impact of COVID-19, it will be imperative for employees to focus on agility, adaptability, reskilling, and upskilling to ensure that they are trained for the upcoming challenges and rapid technology changes.”