Indian IT Services company Infosys has told some of its employees to return to the office with a hybrid work pattern of 10 days in office per month.
Reports say that an email was circulated among entry to mid-level Infosys employees in yet another effort by a tech company to see a return to the office.
Like many companies, Infosys relaxed its remote working policy during the global pandemic, but despite this latest move to reduce remote work, Infosys CEO, Salil Parekh, insists the company is still “flexible” in relation to working from home or office.
Not a Complete WFH U-Turn from Infosys CEO
India's No.2 software-services exporter is asking some workers to work from the office some of the time in line with its main competitor Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
According to the Business Today report, band 5 and 6 employees (which includes mid-level managers, project heads, and entry-level employees) received the email asking them to comply with a minimum of 10 days in office per month.
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During the company’s Q2 FY24 earnings call, CEO Salil Parekh said: “there are some instances, for example, with specific client work or specific type of engagement where we feel it’s better that everyone is working together. But in general, our view is we want to support this flexible approach. It’s something that we believe is appropriate given how we’ve set up the work-from-home infrastructure.”
Asia’s Rising Economic Powerhouse – Thanks to Indian Work Ethic?
India’s economy is flourishing with annual GDP growth of 6% to 7% since the start of the 21st century.
India is expected to be the fastest growing nation in 2023 among the G-20 grouping of the world's largest nations with foreign direct investment inflows reaching new highs in 2023. Foreign investors announced a total of 628 projects worth about $60bn between January and October 2023, according to fDi Markets data.
Co-founder and former Infosys CEO, Narayana Murthy, made some controversial remarks about the work ethic of young Indians shouldering the burden of the economic progression the country is expecting.
In a Youtube interview posted last Thursday by a venture capital company, the tycoon said “our culture has to change to that of highly determined, extremely disciplined and extremely hardworking people and that transformation has to come to youngsters.”
Many people in India already work six days per week, which might go some way to explain the country's rapid economic growth but it seems that is not far enough for Murthy.
He continued: “My request is that our youngsters must say, ‘This is my country, I want to work 70 hours a week’. This is exactly what Germans and Japanese did after the Second World War.”
“We need to work very hard, we need to be disciplined and improve our work productivity,” he said.
Tech Bosses Pushing for a Return to Office
There is a ripple effect among tech bosses either encouraging or enforcing a return to office working, with growing resistance from employees.
Keep up-to-date with the latest companies that have made recent U-turns on remote work, with our regularly updated list including the likes of Starbucks, Disney, Amazon and UPS.
Elon Musk has been one of the most vocal about the matter, recently calling remote workers “detached from reality” in his latest missive during Tesla’s Q2 earnings call.
If working from an office is a deal-breaker for you, there are still many companies offering remote working in 2023, the likes of Airbnb, Slack and Dropbox among others are still offering 100% remote roles.
