[Samurai]

Ours is a software product company that provides technology stack to other technology companies. In other words, we don't work with end customers. We only work with technology partners.

The company was started one month before the Covid lockdowns started. That means we went into lockdown before even renting an office or hiring the first employee. By the time companies started thinking about RTO, we were working at high productivity for two years. The staff are spread across 3 cities, we can't have a single office where everyone can attend regularly. We don't even do video conferencing, but we do audio only web meets every day. None of our technology customers care that we don't work in the office. Our registered office stays empty 99% of the time, and it gets zero visitors. All staff prefer 100% WFH and we have no reason to refuse.

All face-to-face meets happen in restaurants, or we rent a meeting room in a hotel for formal meets. Otherwise, we meet at the technology customer's office. This is now an accepted form of doing business in my industry, and even an old dog like me could learn the trick.

[prakma]

Mine is a small software product org. No permanent office since our lease got over during pandemic. Some teams/individuals rent workspace on as needed basis, but otherwise work-from-home continues for most of the folks. What is interesting is that all recent hires and junior employees, even those who moved to or joined from their hometown, desire to get back to permanent office to be able to collaborate more effectively, get quick answers from colleagues etc. So we are about to get back to a permanent office with flexible policy to be chosen by individual teams.

[jasraj_jog]

Mine is hybrid model. 3 days work from office per week. Not enforced yet. But i have a feeling it will be after Diwali :-)

[JediKnight]

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

Is your org run by Hitler?

This is beyond ridiculous.

My director checks attendance of every one reporting to him. It is like you are in school once again. The best part is we are "Great Place to Work" certified as being very "employee friendly". If you are wondering why people don't quit en-masse. The reason are generous RSUs and Stock options.

[Msar]

Well I work for an MNC and a product based company. There has always been a liberal policy in-terms of work from home.

Post pandemic it's been two days or upto your manager.

For me and my team we only go to the office once or max twice a week unless the business demands a face to face interaction.

Sometimes when we have to just cram in work- we all prefer to work from home weeks together to get the job done and save up time on travelling.

It's best of both worlds wherein we get the job done quicker and also ensure there is minimal impact on employees work life balance.

[sameer_vwagner]

Our company currently has continued Work From Home till the end of this year. Our HR teams have initiated manager feedbacks before they can plan the Return To Office fine print.

Currently we are thinking of calling in all the teams twice to thrice a week from next year and that too is being discussed (very heated discussions if I may add).

Our points to management and HR are as follows:

- In a place like Mumbai, people take public transport and their general travel time ranges from an hour a day to 2.5 hours a day so WFH is better. Teams are using this time to add more value to their products.
- In my team's case, we have become more productive by working from home (you cannot take virtual chai sutta breaks which can and do get extended).
- Meetings (thanks to Zoom and Hangouts) are crisp unlike earlier where a few guys used to chat around even after the meeting is done (with random car conversations - I personally miss this one).

[brownbatman]

I work in a software product based company , they follow a very strong hybrid model which has productivity and employee friendliness as high priority. We do tend to become very mild hybrid on the days when free lunches and exotic snacks are offered in office .

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by JediKnight

My director checks attendance of every one reporting to him. It is like you are in school once again. The best part is we are "Great Place to Work" certified as being very "employee friendly". If you are wondering why people don't quit en-masse. The reason are generous RSUs and Stock options.

Ah so looks like the director either has no work to do or literally is Hitler reincarnated

[ThePatientMan]

I work for a "Lala" media company (Ref: owner driven & managed, top-down decision making without taking any inputs from mid-managerial staff).

During the first lockdown the Govt announced partial opening of offices from 8th June 2020. We were back to office from 20th June with the mandate being to work from office twice a week. It eventually become thrice a week and by August we were back to working all five days from office.

It used to be very difficult to travel as there were no local trains (I stay in Thane and commute to my South Mumbai office by the Mumbai Lifeline) and we had to use our own transport to come to office. But we were never reimbursed for travel expenses. None of the team members even raised the issue as salary cuts were enforced.

During the second lockdown we worked from home for three months (Apr, May, June 2021) as per govt mandate. The moment the restrictions were lifted the same saga was repeated. We were back working to office on all days from Sept'21.

So this is a short description of our Organization's Return to office policy.

[SoumenD]

Product based MNC & am part of the captive IT unit. For us its been hybrid (2 days office, 3 days WFH) since April,2022. But its no more stringent as such. They are pretty liberal when it comes to WFH. Only folks in the office city go twice a week(at times once a week), for people in their hometowns there's no such stringent timeline for RTO. They had paid everyone a decent amount for WFH setup back in 2020, have office cabs if staying far(10kms+ away) and reimburse internet bills every month.

Although being an introvert I avoid meeting people as much as possible, but overall I find no issues as such for once/twice a week as that helps keep overall supporting industries running(cab businesses, housekeeping/canteen/security services). Afterall everyone needs to earn a living and not all have the luxury to work from a laptop whole day.

[hondatoyotafan]

Originally Posted by JediKnight

My director checks attendance of every one reporting to him.
------------
The best part is we are "Great Place to Work" certified as being very "employee friendly".

Had one such director when i was working in a IT captive of a big US health insurer. It too had all those 'best place to work' tags etc. The directors morning routine used to be to take a walk down the bay floor and check for staff @ 9:15 am and if anyone was missing he would send a group email asking him to go to his room once he arrived and he should apply for on the spot half day leave in the HR system. Again he would have a check point walk at 2pm to see if anyone was taking too long a lunch time. Over time this behaviour caused talented employees to either leave the company or his team. He is just left with his long time sycophants who want to bide their time in stupid support and excel sheet work.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by JediKnight

My director checks attendance of every one reporting to him. It is like you are in school once again.

When I came back to India in 2004 and started my first company, I built my cabin with big windows with clear glass. I did this to ensure transparency, after witnessing a few office hanky-panky in US. I was protecting myself from any allegation of such nature. Everyone would be able to see there was nothing shady going on in my office with any PYT.

Prior to opening day, the building owner visited to take a look at the new office layout. He was very impressed with my cabin:

He: Wow, you have big windows with clear glass. Totally see-through.
Me: Yes, I wanted it that way because...
He: Yes, yes, I know. You can watch all your staff all the time, and no one can do any hanky panky. As a boss myself, I see the real benefit. I should also setup my office like this.
Me:

The mindset of the boss makes all the difference.

[speed79]

Mine is a software company. Have been working 100% from office since mid-August 2021.

[TorqueyTechie]

I work for a US captive and there was plans to have hybrid model starting Oct 11th owing to Central SEZ order. This has changed since then after the commerce minister mentioning about permanent WFH. As of now, people are mostly WFH but some of us(including me) go to office 1-2 days a week.

[Sierra__foxtrot]

Working for a big 4 with US /European clients has given us the Hybrid Route with 2 days at office a week (choice is ours )and since our team is spread widely across countries even if we come to office we meet them via ZOOM so it doesn't make any sense that most prefer WFH