Infosys may roll out hybrid work model for employees starting next year

Such a setup would allow more women to become a part of workforce, says company

As work from home continues to be the new norm after outbreak of the Covid-19, IT services behemoth Infosys is exploring a hybrid work model. 

The company is likely to be adapting to this model beginning next year where employees need not come to office on all days, at least for the next six months. After June, depending on the status of the Covid-19 pandemic and vaccination, it will take a call on the road ahead.

“Since people are more used to remote working, it is likely that in future most companies will continue with this hybrid kind of model, but it will vary according to the nature of work,” said Krish Shankar, executive vice-president and group head of human resource development, Infosys.

According to Shankar, more women who have care-giving roles to play at homes can join this flexible work model and become a part of the workforce. 

The Bengaluru-headquartered company, which employs over 200,000 people in India, currently has only 2 per cent people working from office, while the remaining 98 per cent continue to work from home. 

However, Shankar stressed on the fact that a 100 per cent remote working model is not feasible in the long run. “It won’t be practical as coming together and meeting people is really important and it is an essential part of how you build your culture and social capital. All employees working from anywhere won’t be a long-term phenomenon,” explained Shankar.

While the company has plans to onboard about 17,000 freshers into the organisation during FY21, the hiring process has already started for the next year and it is looking at recruiting around 15,000 freshers in FY22. 

Digital first

Infosys, which is eyeing digital to contribute to as much as 50 per cent of the total revenue in a couple of quarters, has been reskilling employees on several digital fronts. The company’s digital business grew 25 per cent year-on-year and contributed 47 per cent to the total revenues for the second quarter ended September.

“We have become digital native and our thinking is to be ready for what our clients want to do in their digital journeys,” said Salil Parekh, chief executive officer and managing director, Infosys, in a virtual meet on Tuesday. 

The company began its digital journey two years ago with a live enterprise platform when it started to look at digitisation on a scale which is more connected and real time. The platform has various elements to it such as Lex, Launchpad and Infy Me, which have helped the company smoothly transition to remote working after the outbreak of the pandemic.

“We have fast-tracked digitisation solutions and used them much more in the past 8-9 months which made connectivity easier,” Shankar added.