Work from home may appear to be the new normal amid coronavirus pandemic but a survey of companies by global property consultant Knight Frank across Indian cities, says close to two-thirds would like to either retain or increase their current office space portfolio over the next 12 months.
The reason -- internet and cellular connectivity, distraction from the family and lack of supervision are slowly emerging as big hindrances for work from home, which initially looked like a luxury for many an Indian.
At least 147 of the 232 corporates surveyed, said, connectivity was the biggest issue, while 88 of them said distraction from family was the key productivity hinderance hindrances, over 80 of them said lack of supervision of their colleagues demanded that work should be carried out from the office itself.
About 36% said they would like to call employees to work from office but ohsycally transporting them was a problem, 16% of the corporates said it was difficult to convince employees to come to office amid the pandemic.
Only 15% respondents said they are likely to reduce their current office space portfolio.
A majority of them, however, said, for the next six months, they are likely to continue with work from policy for a substantial number of their staff to maintain social distancing norms.
Nearly 50% respondents said more than 30% of their workforce will work from home in the next six months.
According to Shishir Baijal, Chairman and Managing Director of Knight Frank, “work-from-home will co-exist, but office space will not lose its importance as a strategic tool for corporate culture development and a source of competitive advantage”.
The survey comes a day after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella warned that making remote work permanent could have serious consequences for social interaction and mental health for workers as virtual video calls cannot replace in-person meetings.
In an interaction with The New York Times, Nadella said that an all-remote setup would be "replacing one dogma with another dogma".
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