Big tech companies likely to continue hybrid mode of work: WeWork India CEO

Big tech companies whose primary employee base has engineers and product developers are likely to continue to work in the hybrid or flexible mode, according to Karan Virwani, chief executive officer (CEO) at WeWork India. On the other hand, companies in the BFSI, media, and consulting sectors have returned to office almost fully, he said.

Talking to Business Standard over video call, Virwani said that even in the sectors that are calling their employees to work from the office fully, there is more flexibility as compared to the pre-pandemic era. 

“There is a lot more flexibility in having the choice to work from home or work from a different location in this ‘return to office’ strategy,” he said. 

Virwani also discussed the launch of the company’s new space management tool, “WeWork Workplace”. It allows companies to go ahead with the hybrid mode of working and give their office space to people to work on a rent. It also gives their employees access to WeWork and WeWork-affiliated spaces across the globe. 

The employees can work on any of these locations, and it will cost the companies around Rs 800 per month for one user. The company said it is the first flex player with such an offering for managed offices in India.

On Workplace, users will be able to search for colleagues to discover their seating arrangements and plan their attendance schedule accordingly. The platform will be integrated with Microsoft Outlook and Google Calendar.

“It will facilitate real-time insights for data-driven decision-making,” added Virwani.

Before launching Workplace, WeWork India also ran a pilot program to check the need for a space management tool. Currently, there are 30 accounts in use on the platform by over 6,000 members in India and over 830 accounts with 151,000 members globally. 

First Published: Jan 09 2024 | 2:16 PM IST