1mn+ employees to WFH post lockdown: Ex-Infosys CEO

Kris Gopalakrishnan, the former President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), has stated that over one million information technology employees are expected to continue to work from home even after the coronavirus-inflicted lockdown situation returns to normalcy. The IT industry veteran adds that the IT services industry has actually managed to transition people to work from home during the ‘stay-at-home’ period. He noted that many of the smaller Indian startups have found that they are as effective working out of home and are now wondering whether they require permanent office space at all.

“Now I am told that 90 to 95 per cent of people in many of the larger (IT) organisations are working out of home. And that transition has been smooth and done very, very quickly. They have figured that out and I think this will now become part and parcel of the business continuity processing, planning in the future,” Gopalakrishnan observed.

He added that recruitment will be “nil or slow” for the one and half years since a lot of people estimate that the impact of the coronavirus pandemic will be felt for 12 to 18 months.  He also hinted at the possibility of salary cuts and lay-offs.