Work from home or office : Debate heats up as stakeholders argue pros and cons

Lakshmana Venkat Kuchi *

Work From Home, Work From Anywhere or Work From Office ? This is a debate that is heating up with opinion as also wishes of all the stakeholders differing violently.

The new normal is that employees who have gotten used to work from home or from anywhere, for that matter, wanting continuation of the same arrangement, companies are finding it tough to lure them back to offices. It is also becoming difficult for companies to discipline the employees now used to a life without daily commute, and onsite interaction with colleagues.

Yes, in some cases and sectors afflicted by the talent crunch and affected by the Great Resignation the management’s hands are tied up in enforcing a return to office rule, as two years of pandemic-forced work from home, and work from anywhere situation has become difficult to dislodge.

True, there were challenges in collaboration and coordination in work activities during the beginning of the pandemic, when the entire world shutdown so to speak, but now IT has enabled solutions in many areas of work that can be accomplished remotely.

In this arena, mostly IT and ITES, WFH/WFA has become the norm, and is likely to continue for as long as long can be. In this sector, the managements are hard-pressed as there are high rates of attrition.

Therefore, even the companies that are opening their offices are not making it mandatory but obligatory to attend office, even if either once or twice a day. Many companies have also declared permanent work from home arrangements, to retain talent.

In India, as third wave has begun petering out, many offices across sectors have begun opening their offices, but for the present are sticking to a hybrid work model, but clearly yearn to return to pre-Covid work from office mode at the earliest. There are some who believe that work from home was just a temporary aberration that they want to correct as quickly as possible. Many companies doing fresh hiring have begun insisting that the new hires accept work from office mode on a regular and permanent basis.

But what Covid has done is to change the way the world works, whether the managements like it or not. Also, in some cases, the companies have realized that it was more productive and profitable to allow workers to work remotely, reducing establishment and even operational costs. Yes, this meant relooking and reworking at employer-employee equations and evolving a new work culture that smoothened functioning of everyone.

Now let’s look at the advantages of work from home or work from anywhere options. Firstly, companies noticed an appreciable improvement in efficiency in work from home situation, and more importantly, it allowed the management to carry out international hiring.

It is now technically feasible for a writer or an editor to work for, say an American or a French publication, sitting in a remote location like Jaipur in India or an Indian firm can hire a designer from Spain. Although this remote work was happening even before the pandemic, the outbreak forced this mode of work on everyone across the globe.

So much so that many companies and managements have discovered the positives of this arrangement–of an expanded talent pool to source their hires. Also, the absence of commute time meant workers could spend an additional two or three hours a day in productive work, raising the overall performance of the company–and at no additional cost to the company.

Perhaps it is for this reason, and increased workload as well, that some employees pine to return to office for work, as they complain that they were missing the office, professional ambience as also opportunities to bond with colleagues and team members.

On this count, the managements too express concerns that lack of socializing among employees would adversely affect company efforts to build a healthy culture, if work from home becomes a permanent fixture. Managements also quote few research studies to show that onsite workers enjoy an advantage over remote workers.

But argue, the work from home supporters that it gave them the freedom to customize their work environment as per their needs, and it allows them to multi-task, mix their personal household chores along with office work. Plus, why many are liking work from home option is that it enables them to escape toxic work environment and high-pressure situations they may encounter in office spaces.

Other reasons that go in favour of work from home include independence, time for themselves, and, of course, having no eyes constantly checking up on them. And why many employees do not prefer even hybrid work mode is due to the fact that most outstation workers had gone off to their respective hometowns, vacating rented premises and closing establishments, returning to offices just to attend two days of office.

Now this is proving to be a big issue for many employees who have gotten used to work from the comfort of their hometowns. Spending quality time with family members has definitely been a big plus from the employees perspective.

But, for the present, employers are opting for hybrid working model, as it offered flexibility between offline and online models and helped maintain work-life balance. Besides, many surveys found that hybrid model will be the one that may win the battle eventually.

The pandemic is petering out, but still there is a scare of a fourth wave in India, as predicted by some experts.

From the perspective of employees, work from home is the preferred choice – as it helps them lead a happier life and would loath to barter it for anything else. There are some who even would quit, if called to work from office, and find a more acceptable office that will allow remote working.

The beauty of work from home is that it benefits the employer and employee both – and lead to savings of time, energy and money. Overheads cost is less for companies and employee saves on commuting costs.

But ranged opposite is the view of some corporates who are firm that work from home would make it very difficult to foster a culture of hard work, imagination, excellence, intuition, meritocracy, discussion and debate – all of which lead to increase in productivity, efficiency and performance.