Covid pandemic has changed the world. Some of the changes are temporary while some will be long lasting. Among the changes, it has accelerated a lot of things which were already happening like the rise of Edtech.
One of the lasting changes that Covid would have had is the trend of Work from home (WFH). As the pandemic raged, companies were forced to let their workforce work from home with systems being ramped on a war footing. It was a trial run on a giant scale. A lot of traditional friction around WFH was brushed aside as there was no option.
Work from home (WFH) provides cost savings and enhanced productivity to companies while employees can save time in commute and better work life balance.
Many companies like TCS, RPG Group, Vedanta, EY, Cognizant, Titan, Deloitte, Whirlpool, Paytm, Saint-Gobain India, among others have stated that going forward part of their workforce will continue to work from home. The number ranges from 10% to 50%.
If the WFH trend gains sizable traction, it will have major effects. Let’s explore three such changes:
Talent without boundaries
Companies can now hire talent without limiting themselves to local geographies around their offices.
This is a double edged sword for the workforce. While it opens new opportunities, the competition they will face will be much much larger. There is a possibility of reduction in compensation offered to the workforce.
Real Estate:
While from last some years residential real estate has seen weakness, commercial real estate has had a stable performance in India. Covid has changed that. Other than the overall impact due to the economic slowdown, if the WFH trend catches on, a lot of office real estate demand would evaporate.
As far as residential real estate is considered, demand instead of aggregating in important urban areas might go more dispersed as the workforce can work remotely and the need to commute daily comes down. This will have an impact on other businesses dependent on demand from workforce such as restaurants etc in major office districts.
Rise of Remote Working Tools and service providers:
There has been a tremendous rise in usage of tools and service providers which help in remote work. A lot of large businesses will be built around this space.
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