Nearly half, 39%, of employees in the Indian formal sector are prepared to resume working from office premises amid its current coronavirus relaxation guidelines (unlock 5.0), a recent TimesJobs survey found.

The survey titled, ‘Back to Work After Covid’, was conducted to understand the preparedness of both the employees and the employers. TimesJobs surveyed 1,268 employees and 863 HR managers working across different sectors.

Among employers, nearly, 51% of HR managers said that their firms could revoke work from home policies soon. The rest, 48%, said that their firms could continue working remotely for some more time.

The survey also found that 23% of organisations claimed that they are not yet prepared to resume their office work even in unlock 5.0. Meanwhile, 67% employers plan to provide a cab facility to their employees for commuting to maintain social distancing. More than four in ten, or 42%, of employers said that future workplaces will have strict hygiene protocols as a standard mandate.

“The TimesJobs survey findings indicate that organisations are all set to re-open their offices with an array of policy changes and a bunch of safety checks in place,” Sanjay Goyal, Business Head, TimesJobs and TechGig said. “While many employers are eager to get back to work to ensure the business continuity and manage employee productivity, it is certain that the work environment won’t look the same as it was in the past.”

Another finding of the survey showed that the majority, 65%, of HR managers plan to limit person-to-person contact to ensure safety at their workplace. Nearly half, 53%, of surveyed professionals stated that the focus on hygiene protocols will increase. Almost 50% of respondents said that temperature checks will be a mandate at their workplace and 37% said that they will reduce working hours of employees to facilitate cleaning and fogging (disinfectant mists) thereafter. 

Infrastructure-wise, around 89% of companies plan to implement changes such as placing workstations apart and installation of barriers between two workstations. Almost 69% of them plan to discontinue cafeteria services along with blocking specific areas such as gym, common space, and breakout zone, etc.

40% of HR managers say their firms plan to implement contact tracing to detect a Covid-19 infected person. As many as 36% said that they will initiate regular temperature checks of employees while 24% of participants said that their company will facilitate installation of a thermal imaging system.