Hyderabad employers put ‘office’ back in ‘office culture’

According to a HYSEA survey, more and more organisations are making concerted efforts to coax their employees back to the office

Hyderabad: In the corporate world, the winds of change seem to be blowing in favour of the traditional brick-and-mortar office.

According to a Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association (HYSEA) survey, more and more organisations are making concerted efforts to coax their employees back to the office. While some may scoff at the idea of returning to the nine-to-five grind, the survey results suggest this trend is gaining momentum.

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As per the survey, over a third of the companies in Hyderabad have more than 60 per cent of their employees working from the office at least two days a week. This means that employees are slowly but surely gravitating towards the workplace, leaving their cosy home offices behind.

Interestingly, for majority of the companies surveyed, less than 20 per cent of their employees are working from outside Hyderabad. This trend is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, with 75 per cent of companies already having established policies for two to five days’ work from office.

The HYSEA survey also revealed some interesting insights into how different companies are implementing their return-to-office policies. Small to mid-sized companies tend to have all their employees working from the office, with no work from home options available. On the other hand, large and very large companies are leaning towards a three-day-a-week work from office policy.

Several employees also seems to be craving the social and professional interaction that comes with working in a physical office, something that cannot be replicated in a work from home setup.

However, not everyone is ready to jump on the return-to-office bandwagon just yet.

According to the HYSEA survey, the top four constraints highlighted by companies in getting employees back to the office include feeling comfortable with work from home and not seeing any need for work from the office, many employees being outside Hyderabad, the hybrid or work from home model boosting productivity, and the work from home or hybrid model keeping attrition in check.

While the return to the office may not be an overnight phenomenon, the survey results suggest that it is definitely on the horizon.

Current WFO Policy:

WFO policy % of companies

1 day a week 1
2 days a week 14
3 days a week 28

100% WFO 26
100% WFH 4

Only essential employees WFO 5

Flexi 15
Other 7

Key reasons to get employees back to office:

* Teamwork
* Collaboration
* Organisation culture
* Identity
* Loyalty
* To increase employees’ personal and professional growth