It was one of those rare moments in the history of the world that it came to a standstill for days. Coronavirus almost put lock on every industry and started a new work culture – work from home. However, as we have got the hang of working from home, it is time for work from anywhere. Though challenges like cyberattacks, network issues, and grapevine communication will always remain to a certain percentage, the future cannot be back to normal but we will have to create a new normal for the industry to be back on wheels.

It is not the first time that employees are working from home, but it wasn’t a universally adopted policy till coronavirus hit us this bad. When the government asked companies to shut down their operations, they quickly adjusted with the new arrangements, expanded their infrastructure and provided devices to employees for a while new work experience. Unlike everybody’s expectation, this new experiment proved fertile, and corporates are now planning to make it a long time work policy.

Though the government of India has allowed offices to open with certain conditions, will the work from home vanish? According to Vivek Mansingh, General Partner, YourNest VC Fund, says, “We are not going to do away with offices. Never. However, despite situation improving and offices opening up, work

There will be meeting rooms and common cubicles which will be used on rotational basis by all the employees

from home is here to stay for long though more number of employees compared to now will be working from offices as and when required, but that will also be occasional and as per the work requirement. Especially IT sector will continue with this trend for long”.

So how will the future offices look like? It would be unlike anything but now. Corporates will be done with huge offices and hundreds of cubicles. “There will be meeting rooms and common cubicles which will be used on rotational basis by all the employees,” adds Vivek.
As meetings have now shifted online using online communication platforms like Google Meet and Zoom, there will be less travel for employees, thus enabling them to contribute more to work. On the other hand, there will be huge savings on travel too, especially the meetings on foreign lands that can now be conducted using these platforms.

But as the number of coronavirus cases are on rise in India, and no clear pronunciation and guidelines by WHO, there exists a huge sea of confusion & fear among people. Companies are constantly shifting their reopening dates, and as they settle more appropriately with work from home attitude, it will be difficult for them to let it go. Especially when employees too are benefitting from this move, like they are converting their commute time into work hours thus delivering more work.