Nearly half, or 42%, of HR managers in India said that their organisations will continue with remote working due to the pandemic while nearly 40% stated that they will follow a hybrid structure of working from home and office on alternate days, according to a new TimesJobs survey.

The survey showed that the remaining 18% said that they would completely revoke work from home policies.

Among those who stated that they would be working from home in 2021, approximately 50% said this would be followed for the next year. As many as 23% of respondents said they plan to work from home for the next five years.

Sanjay Goyal, Business Head, TimesJobs and TechGig said, “Year 2020 will be best remembered for ushering in ‘work from home’ as the ‘new normal’ at workplaces. It’s been a year of learnings and reinvention for both the professionals and the corporates. Organisations realised that the physical presence of employees is just a psychological requirement and work can happen from anywhere. Employees realised that they need to step up in terms of skills and ownership for their job role and adopt a flexible approach to work”.

Meanwhile, 43% of HR professionals said that their organisations would hire actively in 2021 with a preference for hiring artificial intelligence and data science professionals.

The survey findings also found that 31% respondents will hire candidates on a contractual basis next year against permanent roles.

The TimesJobs’ survey also questioned HR professionals if they will rehire employees who were laid off in the Covid-19 pandemic with 85% of them having said ‘yes’.

More than 85% HR professionals plan to hold appraisals in 2021. Out of these, 43% of the respondents said that they would roll salary hikes in the range 20%-25%. The next 13% of respondents said they would offer a hike between 25%-30% to their employees. A marginal number of the survey respondents claimed that their organisation would roll appraisals ranging between 30%-35%.

TimesJobs also asked respondents to rank the top three measures that will help to strengthen their workforces mentally and emotionally. A third (32%) of the respondents voted prioritisation of work-life balance at the workplace. Practices such as one-on-one discussions on mental health, enabling virtual mindful workshops, were voted as the second and the third measures that companies would undertake to help their workforce.