Over half of India's employees feel their best work happens outside office: Survey

The nationwide Covid-19 lockdown has given rise to what is, in fact, the largest 'work from home' experiment in global history. The pandemic has impacted an individual's preferences of where they want to work, as a new report reveals that more than half of the employees in India feel they do their best work when not in office.

'A New Sense of Place' report by Script - A Godrej Venture ratifies that be it at home and living spaces like bedroom, garden, India has become 'location agnostic' and a new sense of 'workplace' has emerged.

Inspired by the concept of 'Freedom of Living', Script which creates furniture and accessories that celebrates fluid and an evolutionary way of living, conducted this research to understand how the role of 'physical spaces' in the lives of Indians has evolved especially in the current context. It surveyed more than 2000 individuals belonging to the 18-45-year age group across four metros.

Even when comparing cities, employees are leveraging technology and responding to work related queries. 85 per cent employees in Mumbai claimed to respond to work related messages (WhatsApp, SMS, Emails) at home, more often than any other metro city. In Kolkata, 65 per cent employees respond to work related messages often followed by 60 per cent in Delhi and 59 per cent in Bengaluru.

Rajat Mathur, Business Head, Script, says, "The power of technology has made work more 'location agnostic' which is further facilitated by the ongoing lockdown. The lines between working from home and office spaces has clearly diminished. 'The New Sense of Place' report by Script highlights our new-age workplace habits, as well as our changing preferences. The inferences picked up from city to city would enable employers to recognise a freedom of living devoid of any physical absolutes, and institute better measures for their employees through these challenging times."

With the rising number of zoom calls and the incessantly high individual screen time amidst exhaustive working hours, India's workforce is split between going back to office or not. When employees eventually return to the workplace, the report reveals that 41 per cent plan to maintain working from home best practices they picked up during the lockdown.