It’s not only tech companies that are onboard the work-from-home bandwagon — even FMCG companies are joining in.
CavinKare, which runs several brands across dairy, foods, snacks and personal care, has said that it’s shutting down its entire corporate office, and all employees will work from home. “We have shut down our corporate office and closed all four branches. We see no need for it,” said CavinKare founder CK Ranganathan. “We have called for bids from tenants for the 40,000 sqft office,
he continued. CavinKare says it has also shut down four office branches. “Only factories and R&D centres will have employees come in and work,” Ranganathan added. Nearly 300 people worked out of the corporate office, while the company has a staff strength of 1,900.
The dramatic measures are a result of the Covid-19 shutdown, which had caused the company’s employees to work from home. But CavinKare found that being forced to work from home was a blessing in disguise. “(The closing of corporate offices) is more from a productivity standpoint. We have seen a 30% increase in productivity in the nearly 100 days of lockdown,” Ranganathan said.
CavinKare’s experience of the lockdown isn’t unique — companies across the board have discovered that employee productivity has risen when while working from home. Companies can also save on office rental costs, which can significantly improve their bottom lines. IT behemoth TCS had earlier announced that after its experience of having employees work from home during the lockdown, it expects that 75% of its workforce will work from home by 2025. Ed-tech startup Unacademy has said that 60% of its staff will continue to work from home even after the lockdown was over. “Apart from a few core teams like product and content, where we need a lot of interactions and meetings on a daily basis everything can be moved remotely. The sales and operations people can come in when leaders call for meetings,” Unacademy CEO Gaurav Munjal had said.
Even globally, major tech firms seem to be reconciling with the idea of working from home. Twitter has said that employees who wish to work from home will be able to do even after the lockdown was over, and Google and Facebook have said that it doesn’t expect most employees to return to offices until next year. Other companies, like Shopify, have become remote-first companies, with most employees not coming in to offices any more.