Hybrid model to continue in companies across sectors in the new year

The hybrid model, which allows employees to work from home for a particular number of days in the week, is favoured by companies as it helps both employees and employers

Three years after the advent of Covid-19, companies across sectors are likely to continue the hybrid work model in 2023 to ensure work-life balance for their employees, experts told The Economic Times.

The hybrid model, which allows employees to work from home for a particular number of days in the week, is favoured by companies including Tata Steel, Flipkart, Marico, Boston Consulting Group and Eaton as it helps both employees and employers.

Organisations acknowledge that while they want their employees back in the office, the coronavirus may have changed the working environment and employees’ expectations completely. Moreover, they also feel employees are more productive in such models which offer flexibility.

Flipkart Chief People Officer Krishna Raghavan told ET that the company will continue its months-long hybrid model and “modify it as needed based on both employee needs and external factors”.

Similarly, Tata Steel will keep its white-collar employees in the hybrid model, while its blue-collar workers are back in offices.

Shedding the uniform system for employees, LTIMindtree is now making separate categories for its job roles — client work, office work, hybrid and home-based work — based on its requirements, the report said.

“There is room for all working models to co-exist and companies that will be able to embrace flexibility in the way they work, how they work, what time they work, will be able to attract, engage and retain talent better,” BCG MD Suresh Subudhi told the publication.

A recent survey by HP corroborated the same, wherein 92 per cent of employees favoured a hybrid model for the work-life balance, 88 per cent said it helped employee retention and 72 per cent said it helped them be more productive.