Six out of 10 companies adopted ‘work from home’ policy post COVID-19 relaxations: Survey

Mumbai: As the pandemic pushed employers to explore and adapt new ways to stay in the business, a survey has revealed that 6 out of 10 organisations have adopted ‘work from home’ policy post Covid-19 relaxations.

Over 65 per cent of the employers have either introduced ‘work from home’ as a policy or are evaluating the same reflecting a maturity and the confidence in their employees, according to a survey by Grant Thornton Bharat.

The survey was conducted online by Grant Thornton Bharat among 4,650 respondents across social media platforms.

It, however, found that some sectors like manufacturing, travel and hospitality, medical and other essential services ‘work from home policy’ are not feasible due to their nature of work.

“It is imperative that organisations review and evaluate the impact areas under new working arrangements, evolving regulatory landscape, and changing employee expectations. This would help ensure that the HR systems and processes are designed and integrated to support the requirements of both internal and external stakeholders,” Grant Thornton Bharat Partner Akhil Chandna said.

Further, the survey noted that an increasingly virtual work environment brings challenges related to employee engagement, governance, compliances among others, therefore, it is essential for organisations to gear up their internal systems to meet these challenges.

Over 60 per cent of the respondents believed that payroll or compliances can be outsourced or managed in a hybrid manner, the survey added.

Over 65 per cent respondents believed that delayed approval is one of the biggest challenges they face with HR systems today.

Emotional connect amongst employees, quick approvals, less miscommunication among others, have become as important as ever and it is paramount for HRs to cater to these issues through solutions like AI for faster approvals, facial recognition for attendance, mood bots and happiness index evaluator, rewards and recognitions.

Additionally, 62 per cent of the respondents preferred using multiple apps and portals for employee engagement while the rest of the respondents hinted on the need for a single tool which acts as a gateway to connect organisation and employees for formal and informal connections, physical and mental wellbeing among others, it stated.

Two of the most cited issues with regards to payroll processing were meeting statutory compliances and threat to data security, the survey noted.

“Data confidentiality, especially in an in house payroll, can be compromised due to multiple people receiving information about an individual’s paycheck. With the proposed new law on Personal Data Protection (PDP) in India and Indian organisations expanding into developed markets with stronger data security requirements, managing data security and meeting statutory compliances are important aspects to consider while deciding applications and processes for payroll,” Grant Thornton Bharat Partner Devesh Uniyal said.

Furthermore, the survey found out that many employers are concerned about the impact of new labour codes.

Apart from impact on employee cost, the new labour codes would also impact HR policies, processes and all related compliances, it observed.

The industry at large has also acknowledged the same and over 50 per cent of respondents believed that the new labour codes would have a high impact on the existing HR policies and processes, it added.