Office chalo... or not? Mumbaikars dissect the work-from-home policy and why it is feasible

Dear employeersquos name Company name wishes to inform you that wersquore now implementing a fulltime hybrid return to the office Your time of remote workleave will be ending and wersquore excited to welcome you back to the office on date at timemdashpopped up on our Google search when we asked about workfromofficeThe readymade template that turned up a few seconds after hitting enter proves that there have been many who have used the same keywords as usmdashmostly by employers who have had to send out an email informing them that to come back to the office fulltimeA Cisco study From Mandate to Magnet The Race to Reimagine Workplaces and Workspaces for a Hybrid Future found that 96 per cent of companies in India have mandated a full or partial return to the office with productivity team communication and leadership pressure as key driversA study has said that almost 96 per cent of companies in India have called their workers back to the office PiciStockSince late last year these dreaded emails have hit the inboxes eliciting a range of reactions from grumblings about the logistical nightmare of commuting to outright resignation Whatever the reaction the reality is that the era of work from home is coming to a closeIndia was one of the first countries to announce one of the harshest lockdowns on March 24 2020 The prime ministerrsquos announcement added a new dimension of uncertainty for a population already worried by the virus But people adapted to the remote life shopping communicating and working online became de rigueur Now Indians are expected to go into reverse gearmdashat least where work is concernedPunebased Roopal Jain 34 works in Human Resources and is one of those who received the mandate to come to work five days a week late last year Jain who had delivered a baby girl in 2023 asked for an extension of the twoday hybrid work policy but management refused ldquoSince only the HR department was asked to come to work fulltime I tried to get an internal transfer but somehow that didnrsquot work out toordquo This caused Jain to put in her papers after a few months ldquoEven the appraisals were so demotivating that it made much lesser sense spending hours in daily commuterdquo she says incredulouslyRoopal Jain Roseline Catherin and Vasundhara Mudgil Head of PR India SpotifyJain believes that companies have been acquiring land cheap during the COVIDinduced commercial real estate downfall and now they need to fill those offices with people ldquoDuring the pandemic because of a drop in land prices my excompany purchased a lot of land and built swanky office spaces but there was no one to come to work in them These are the kind of reasons why companies are calling back employees not because of productivity in fact in pure terms people were more productive Though it came at the cost of working odd hours as well nevertheless more work was getting done when people were homerdquo she saysRoseline Catherin joined an MNC in Bengaluru during COVID19 pandemic when workfromhome was a given Things changed when she got married moved to Mumbai and had a child ldquoLast year they gave us a few months to come back to work I asked them to let me continue to work from home as life had changed for me in the last three years They flatout refusedrdquo says Catherine adding that she was surprised shocked and disappointed because she much like Jain was a dedicated employee ldquoThey knew my work knew Irsquom not a shirker so I was heartbroken when they did not let me continue to work from homerdquo she says over the phoneThe Mira Road resident found a job late last year which let her work remotely ldquoIt is a completely remote role in an Indiabased company with a presence at Vikhroli but I have never had to go to the office since I joined last yearrdquo she says So what does she feel about the debate that has been raging since companies have asked employees to turn up ldquoHonestly I think that a lot of these rules and regulations are made for the companies and not for the wellbeing of their employees As long as the work is being done it is now up to every person to make a decision for themselvesrdquo she addsMonish Chandan 35 is a business analyst by day and an influencer by night Chandan a Mulund resident works for a Bengalurubased company and goes there only once in three months He loves the time this gives him ldquoThe fact that I do my work for the day and log off at the end is a big plus Our office hours are from noon to 9 pm but I finish my work on time and attend many events and even do some writingrdquo he says The extra time has resulted in a book he wrote MayandashLet Life Unfold ldquoI think it also depends on the relationship you build with your manager who for me is very cooperative so this arrangement works for merdquo he adds over a phone callOn the other end is Ashish Thippanakaje whose company has made coming back to work since the last few months an incentive rather than a chore ldquoA lot of people donrsquot mind coming to the office because we get a lift and a drop from the office and thatrsquos a big plus Additionally breakfast and lunch are free so they have taken away our biggest expense that is commuting and food expenditurerdquo he says over the phone from BengaluruSpotify became one of the most sought after companies after their ldquoWork from anywhererdquo campaign but even more so when Spotifyrsquos chief human resources officer Katarina Berg came out with a statement saying ldquoYou canrsquot spend a lot of time hiring grownups and then treat them like children We are a business thatrsquos been digital from birth so why shouldnrsquot we give our people flexibility and freedomA Stanford survey found that 17 per cent of workers said they would give up 20 per cent of their paycheck to work remotely while 10 per cent would surrender more than 20 per centVasundhara Mudgil Head of PR amp CommunicationsIndia at Spotify talks about solid workable programmes brought in at Spotify so that the company put their money where their mouth is ldquoOur Work From Anywhere WFA program introduced in 2021 enables them to work from where they work bestmdashwhether thatrsquos at home at the office or at times somewhere else entirely Even before the pandemic hit the HR team at Spotify had been discussing the future of work and what it will look like and always concluded that globalisation and digitalisation are drivers for a more flexible workplace that is better for both the company and our peoplerdquo she saysMudgil equates freedom to effectiveness ldquoEffectiveness canrsquot be measured by the number of hours people spend in an officemdashinstead giving people the freedom to choose where they work will boost effectiveness By advocating a better worklife balance Spotify has been able to retain its existing talented band members and attract new ones We do not believe in mandating everyone back to an officemdashmany roles can be location agnostic while a few are required to be in a relatively more hybrid set up We continue to embrace flexibility whilst simultaneously reviewing and shifting some of the focal points of our WFA programrdquo she addsAnother line of Bergrsquos epitomises the situation ldquoWork is not a place you come to itrsquos something you dordquo1737Workers who said they would give up 20 per cent of their paycheck to work remotely according to a Stanford survey