Building strong culture and changing leadership role paves the way for hybrid work model: Report

The disruption caused by the Covid pandemic has graduated from the recent sudden shift from fully remote work to now a hybrid work model. Today, more than 70 per cent of employees prefer mixed work. At the same time, correspondingly, a similar sentiment has been expressed by both IT companies and tech service buyers, says a report by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

As per the report findings, over 80 per cent of the IT companies and Global Captive Centres are most likely to adopt a hybrid work model as compared to the rest of the industry segments. Also, the scale and nature of the business have evolved as key drivers, defining the structure of a future hybrid organization, says the report.

The report titled 'Shaping the Future of Work in India's Tech Industry’ released by Tamil Nadu IT Secretary Neeraj Mittal on Tuesday highlights the challenges that the new work paradigm is likely to bring, as well as the key areas that leadership must address to promote flexible working options in the post-pandemic era.

This preference for hybrid working stems from the fact that while talent in technology firms is looking for flexible working options, it also value the importance of a physical office. Further, in addition to untapped talent in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, swathes of people permanently moved to their hometowns during the pandemic. The hybrid work model can help the tech industry optimally engage with and leverage this talent, the report said.

As companies begin to call employees back to work, they must now build their value proposition around three fundamental pillars; developing newer talent pool with domain specific skills to execute Engineering R&D projects (niche skill sets, lower attrition, rapid upskilling), supporting variability in contractual agreements and capacity delivered (forecasting, quick ramp-ups, gig economy) resilient operations, and a strong brand (geographical spread, robustness of remote infra), the report said..

“The pandemic has had widespread ramifications on businesses across the globe, impacting the way they interact and operate. organisations have faced some of the major shifts, with remote/hybrid being the most distinct one”, said Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM, said in a release.

Nitin Chandalia, Managing Director and Partner, BCG India, said the future model of work is not binary, and many variations are possible across a continuum. Organisations must create their own version of this future model as a critical component of a differentiated employee value proposition.

With the transition to a new work model, the organisational structure is expected to change to make the work more collaborative and engaging for employees. Job requirements across workforce personas are also key to determining best-fit hybrid models for organisations. This will range from pattern-based professionals, which include accounts processing and HR processing to flexible professionals (digital marketing, web application development) and stewards (database administration, network security), the report said.

COMMENT NOW