More work from home? Less traffic? How lockdown could change India Inc’s working habits

More work from home? Less traffic? How lockdown could change India Inc’s working habits

Post lockdown world will be different then the pre-lockdown world. At least this is what people expect. There are many discussions, thoughts on this and some reports are out too.

Sandeep SinghUpdated: Thursday, April 16, 2020, 05:28 PM IST
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Representative Image | Pixabay

Post lockdown world will be different then the pre-lockdown world. At least this is what people expect. There are many discussions, thoughts on this and some reports are out too.

I am not sure how far those expectations will be fulfilled e.g. one school of thought is that human being will have better control on its greed and will learn to control its desires. Some think more people will turn vegetarian but the crowd at reopened wet market of China, does not give such indication.

Even I have some thoughts on the changes that will unfold. In this article I am talking about such changes in three fields.

My friends in IT industry are saying that work from home has made them think why they need huge office space. Some have already shelved plans to acquire more office space and some are discussing to handover up to 50% to 75% of the existing workspace that they have. One can come to office only when it is necessary to be physically present and it won’t need much space because all the staff will never be required to present at the same time.

To an extent it makes sense also. In case majority of staff can work from home then not only office space but also there will be no need of huge parking spaces in offices. It will lead to less traffic on road, less fuel consumption and ultimately less pollution.

Further in office, apart from saving on rentals or buying real estate, there will be saving on support staff (less no of peons, security etc.), saving on tea/coffee or even subsidized canteen. It will lead to job losses at the lower end.

Organisations might offer extra incentive to employees operating from home. Looking at the benefits government might offer tax relaxation on such incentives. Employee will save time on commuting, less travel related stress and more time to work. (No, employee will not get more time to himself, if one goes by the experience of lockdown. Anyone who has worked form home during lockdown has conveyed that they are putting a greater number of hours in work as compared to normal period).

So, on one hand work from home is going to hit the ‘office real estate’ big time on the other hand it will give a boost to ‘home real estate’. In the current home setup, there is no provision for space for work from home. But if the work from home concept catches up, people will have dedicated space in home for office i.e. study room or office room will become mandatory. This will lead to more rooms in a house. In future three bedrooms will become the norm which is the case with two bedrooms today. Any tax relaxations provided by the government on incentives on work from home will boost the housing real estate sector.

Now will it lead to more house helps or longer hours for house helps in the house remains to be seen. So will the job loss at office will shift to new jobs at individual offices operating from home. Will skill set see a change? A driver who can do typing if required and may be babysitting, off course the more skill set the more money.

Work from home can also help reduce pressure on big cities. Individual can operate from whichever city he or she is in.

What is most important point here is that now not only IT industry but other industries have also experienced that work from home is a workable option in their industry and more and more companies will opt for work from home concept.

Second major change will be in education sector. Suddenly schools to tuitions have realised that work from is an option. Again, the first effect is going to be rental real estate.

In Mumbai, even coaching institutes operating in slums have moved to online coaching. Smart phone is not a luxury and in a city like Mumbai everyone wants to avoid travelling at the first opportunity. Both teachers and students cutting across age and class have adopted to online teaching.

Now again looking at the real estate price and available office space in big cities (at least) learn from home will be an option. The students may not need to go to school every day of the week. They can go for practical and other such activities as and when required. This will lead to less traffic, less fuel consumption, less pollution and less travel related stress on kids.

This will again lead to redesigning of the house because they are currently not equipped for schooling from home through online.

All this will again lead to job loss at the lower end in the schools while might lead to need of more house help with a different skill set. I recall the cook at our place teaching my son Marathi. She was excellent at it. Naturally, new skill set will lead to more money for house help.

The negative effect on kids could be that they will again be locked inside the house. There are already issues related with they being stuck to mobile and tv and not going out to play. How will they learn socializing and what about peer learning? If one will recall it was easier to learn cycling with the help of friends then with parents. It is just one example.

Moving to last of the three examples. During lockdown readers have been forced to give away their hard copies of newspapers. In 40 days, they would have learnt to manage the morning essentials without hard copy of newspaper.

No newspaper is being published or delivered in Mumbai from last 20 days at least and will not be published or delivered till the lock down is over. And looking at the growing trend of virus effected patients it looks like Mumbai will remain under lockdown for a long time to come.

So once the lock down is over will all of these readers go back to hard copy or continue with digital editions. Even if 25% move to digital edition then the income of newspaper hawker will be hit severely. At the same time, it will help in saving the tress and controlling the pollution.

There could also be change in the leaders in news business. Those who are leaders in news business through newspapers are not the leaders in news business of digital world. There are several players already in the business of digital news and reader might go to them instead of visiting the news portal of their current newspaper.

All the changes will not be as smooth as they are in this article. They will create lot of upheaval in lot of families. The changes will be in every field, both positive and negative. Lockdown will give birth to lot of new industry also because lot of gaps have emerged especially in the service and medical industry. How the world reacts to China and how much India takes benefit of it will also impact the economy. If we can see the future and prepare for it then we as a society might be able to handle it better as we have seen in the case of Wuhan virus.

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