Learning from COVID-19 pandemic

Future of Work accelerated:
Learnings from the COVID-19
Pandemic
Human Capital Consulting |
India perspective
April 2020

02
Future of Work accelerated: Learnings from the COVID-19 Pandemic

03
Foreword
The world is experiencing an unprecedented lockdown
due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The International
Monetary Fund (IMF) is predicting an economic recession
of the magnitude similar to The Great Depression. Per
the US Labour Department, more than 10 percent of
American workers have filed for unemployment benefits
in three weeks. There are many doomsday scenarios that
have moved from ‘unlikely’ to ‘most likely’ in the past few
weeks across the globe. Starting in China, the epicentre
of the COVID-19 pandemic has moved to Iran, Western
Europe, and the US, and in its aftermath decimated the
concepts of business and work.
In India, we have witnessed firm and clear government
policies to proactively enforce a nationwide lockdown,
and mercifully pandemic growth has not yet seen the
levels that were being feared by many specialists. Indian
organisations have been able to move business and
work in a phased manner. Core operations of most non-
essential industries remain shut down, while essential
industries are pushing their organisations to get the work
done. One can see a quantum leap in work-from-home
numbers in the country, and a forced move to newer
ways of working.
At Deloitte, we have been writing about the Future of
Work for some time. The Future of Work comprises
three equally important dimensions ‘work’ (what can
be automated), ‘workforce’ (who can do the work), and
‘workplace’ (where is the work done). Based on our
experience, most organisations in the past have focused
on the ‘work’ dimension, evaluating opportunities to
automate and augment workforce through technology.
However, there appeared to be an inadequate focus
or action on the other two dimensions. The current
pandemic situation, more by compulsion rather than
by choice, has forced us to move to different workplace
models, and in some situations, workforce models as
well. We wanted to understand if the current experience
has truly accelerated mindset shifts to the Future of
Work, and saw the ongoing lockdown as an opportunity
to test our hypothesis on acceleration of the Future
of Work in India. Our methodology was a combination
of a survey and virtual one-on-one conversations, the
audience comprising CXOs from 42 reputed Indian
organisations. We identified seven key learnings relevant
to the acceleration of Future of Work in India. As
conclusive remarks, we have presented what a COVID-
adjusted strategy could look like for any organisation
looking to embrace the Future of Work.

04
Future of Work accelerated: Learnings from the COVID-19 PandemicFuture of Work accelerated: Learnings from the COVID-19 Pandemic
70%
~50 percent CXOs reported more than 25 percent business
disruption and work was disrupted on similar lines, with
revenue, supply chain, and operations functions impacted
Percentage of work disruption across the value chain during the lockdown (industry
variances exist)
Manufacturing/Retail operations
Constraint of attachment to physical assets (machinery, plant equipment, raw
material, etc.) has impacted manufacturing/production across industry sectors, and
the workforce is unutilised during this lockdown period. Retail operations observed
similar themes.
Design & New Product Development
Functions with high cognitive requirements, such as design and product
development have been able to transition to virtual working, and some disruption
owing to absence of prototyping equipment, lab facilities, etc., still exists.
Source: Future of Work Accelerated Survey and CXO Conversations (n=42)
Supply chain
Inbound and outbound supply chain operations for a majority of sectors were
disrupted due to sealed borders and other transportation restrictions imposed as
part of the national lockdown. Shutting down of manufacturing operations of raw
material is also contributing to supply chain roadblocks.
Revenue
Revenue functions saw high degree of disruption to business continuity given the
roles demand customer touchpoints and on-premise interaction. Most sales teams
are working with depressed business plans and experimenting with novel ways of
reaching out to customers and consumers.
60%
85%
25%
10%
15%
Organisations have been forced to adopt new ways of working to ensure
business continuity to the extent possible.
IT
While attachment to physical assets has slowed down IT operations for several
organisations, most organisations, especially in IT/ITES sector, have successfully
transitioned some portions of the work to remote working model.
Enabling (non-IT)
A majority of the sectors are able to achieve business continuity in functions,
such as HR, Finance, etc., by leveraging virtual working. The lockdown has helped
organisations gain momentum in transformation initiatives in enabling areas due to
increased availability of leaders.
04

05
The Big Question
Has the current crisis truly accelerated the Future of Work, and if yes, which
dimensions and by how much?
Current work optionsFuture work options
1. Automation level 3. Physical proximity
2. Talent category
‘Workforce’
‘Workplace’‘Work’
1. What work can be automated?
Increasing automation over the next
10-20 years….
3. Where is the work done?
Rethinking combinations of talent,
technology, and workplace…
2. Who can do the work?
Technological advancements enabling
new models for interaction between
companies, employees, and customers…

06
Our prediction about the Future
of Work
The pace at which individuals and organisations were changing was far slower
than advances in technology.
We asked CXOs if they see
the curves for individuals and
businesses accelerating, starting
now.
We heard a resounding ‘yes’.
The shift in the curve is due to a
breakdown of legacy mindsets,
adoption of digital ways of working,
and new demands being placed on
businesses and workforce.
The extent of acceleration will
likely depend on how successfully
organisations are able to take their
learnings and experiments into the
future as they recover and thrive in
the new normal.
Organisations have witnessed higher acceleration on workplace and workforce dimensions,
owing to immediate crisis.
Automation and cognitive
technology investments
have not been a focus
area during the crisis,
since leaders were in the
response phase.
Businesses have started
thinking about alternative
workforce models
and leveraging the gig
economy to the fullest.
The idea of a hybrid
workplace (mix of
physical and remote)
is gaining traction and
changing of policies is
already underway.
1970s
Rateofchange
Deloitte University Press | dupress.deloitte.com
Technology
Businesses
Public policy
Individuals
Rate of change before COVID-19
Anticipated acceleration due to COVID-19
1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s COVID-19
Work
Workforce
Workplace

07
07

08
Our study has revealed seven key learnings from the
current crisis, which could potentially accelerate the Future
of Work in India.
A collaborative effort was required to minimise disruption
arising from attachment to physical assets, lack of IT
infrastructure, and social structure.
The key shift has been adoption of, rather than investment
in, virtual tools for collaboration.
Leaders believe that individual employee productivity has
in part, increased as a result of remote working.
The crisis has pushed employee wellness and engagement
to the forefront.
Workforce has rallied behind the organisation in their
respective roles.
Enterprise agility has emerged as a strength for
organisations, which have been successful in minimising
work disruption.
Organisations are considering increasing the share of gig
workers as others reduce dependence in favour of full-
time workforce.
08

09
Learning 1
A collaborative effort to minimise disruption arising from attachment to physical
assets, lack of IT infrastructure, and social structure.
Large scale disruption in production:
Most organisations have idle operations’ roles
due to work being linked to physical assets
(plants, retail stores, etc.). Conglomerates have
most of their production capacity on hold, and
many leading organisations have shut down
operations proactively to mitigate risks to
customers and employees.
How the IT sector is mitigating risk:
Interestingly, firms in the IT/ITES sector
have generally managed to mitigate this risk
through large-scale collaborative efforts. A
leading IT/ITES firm, for example, took about a
week into the lockdown to deploy IT machines
(not PCs) to employees’ houses, who could
then resume work from home.
A collaborative effort:
In this time of crisis, most CXOs responded
that they were surprised by workforce
commitment. CXO of one of the largest
media conglomerate acknowledged that
they were able to quickly respond to the
situation due to employees’ own efforts
to invest in personal laptops, high speed
internet, etc.
IT infrastructure remains a challenge:
Fifty-five percent CXOs agreed that their
IT infrastructure fell short of facilitating
a smooth transition to remote working.
Shortage of desktops/laptops, lack of VPN
access, restriction due to on-site software,
lack of data cards are some of the top
reasons cited for business disruption. Most
organisations rolled out new policies for
broadband and data reimbursements to
enable the workforce to remain connected.
Top reasons for work disruption

10
Learning 2
The key shift has been adoption of, rather than investment in, virtual tools for
collaboration.
Top platforms used for collaboration
Sharp increase in adoption of virtual tools
Historically organisations faced a challenge to drive adoption of remote collaboration
tools. The crisis has forced major mindset shifts in adoption of virtual collaboration
tools, with managers seeing long-term benefits of partial remote working models.
Platform choices remain common
Zoom, MS Teams, and WebEx remain the platforms of choice for virtual connect.
Improvement in collaboration
Surprisingly, organisations have reported improvement in the degree of collaboration.
Following a routine of virtual meetings and hangouts has aided in driving collaboration not
just within, but across teams as well.
Leadership effectiveness
Decision making is faster, as meetings are structured with pre-defined duration and
agenda. ~75 percent CXOs report that face-to-face connects have in-built inefficiencies,
which are eliminated in remote models.
Enhanced customer face time
In pockets, organisations are able to have better customer conversations due to
availability and better access. According to an executive at a leading Non-Banking Financial
Company (NBFC), connectivity with customers has gone up significantly.
75% of CXOs said they already
had tools for collaboration in
the firm and did not have
to make new investments
during the crisis.
60% of CXOs said
collaboration has
significantly increased/
increased during the crisis.
Zoom
WebEx
Skype
Others
MS Teams 70%
30%
20%
20%
75%

11
Learning 3
Leaders believe that individual employee productivity has in part, increased as a result
of remote working.
Higher employee productivity in specific roles- Rise in productivity in certain pockets
of the workforce:
• Disruption to the workplace has placed greater demand on certain roles. For example, operations, IT, and
HR teams had to undertake concerted efforts to facilitate remote working models.
• Roles that require cognitive and creative thinking, independent /project-based work and have low
dependence on physical proximity have also seen maintained or even rising productivity levels as
employees use their working hours more effectively (functions, such as product design, customer service,
finance, and content creation). Significant amount of employee time is saved from commuting, socialising,
and other activities. Organisations are looking to aid their workforce with more flexible policies as they
move to Recovery phase.
Legacy organisations could face existential crisis:
Many manufacturing organisations have seen a slump in productivity of all roles,
including roles that can work remotely. Stated reasons include mindset blocks amongst
managers and workforce’s inability to work from home.
Overall productivity impact
Decreased
<=10%
Business productivity (measured by revenue/product output)
Individual productivity (individual effectiveness)
Percentageofcompanies
66%
10% 10% 10%
0% 0%0%
20%
50%
33%
No Impact Increased
<=10%
Increased
>10%
Decreased
>10%
1
2
Organisations driving productivity from remote working are likely to see it
emerge as a lever of competitive advantage.
1
2

12
Learning 4
The crisis has pushed employee wellness and engagement to the forefront.
85%
Taking care of people first
• While the very nature of the crisis has, unsurprisingly, propelled greater focus on tracking and
enabling the physical well-being of the workforce, organisations seem to be equally focused on
taking care of emotional wellness for their people.
• Over 70 percent of the organisations surveyed have set-up dedicated helplines to counsel
their workforce and their families through the crisis.
Organisations have put in new mechanisms to track employee wellness.
High touch engagement to balance social distancing
• Nearly all organisations have ramped up workforce communication, conducting regular town
halls, pulse checks, and team catch-ups.
• Virtual games and quizzes, dedicated time for informal hangouts, online ‘parties’ are some of the
initiatives many organisations are undertaking, especially designed for millennials and young
workers staying alone, groups at higher risk of isolation anxiety.
Investing in skills for the future
• Executives are also viewing the downtime as an opportunity to invest in developing future
ready skills for the workforce.
• CXOs reported a 3X increase in training efforts during the lockdown and have seen virtual
learnings breaking down legacy barriers.
• A leading player from the eye care industry is using this time to roll out trainings for the sales
force in skills, such as managing ambiguity, creating virtual presence, and negotiating remotely.

13
Learning 5
Workforce has rallied behind the organisation in their respective roles.
Workforce comes together in crisis
• Ninety percent CXOs say workforce is putting in more hours and there has been significantly less
absenteeism.
• Greater accountability in the workforce across industries and functions, is a common theme.
Managers lead change
• Seventy-two percent CXOs believe that the role of the team lead is going to be the most important in
ensuring the mental well being of workforce in the new way of working.
• A leading technology firm pointed out how managers are taking the onus of conducting daily connects,
team catch-ups and one-on-one meetings with the workforce to understand and resolve challenges.
Manager scorecards have been developed to track employee morale.
“I think it is amazing how
employees and managers have
rallied up to make the organisation
run smooth as we transitioned to a
100% work-from-home model”
HR Head,
leading global bank

14
Learning 6
Enterprise agility has emerged as a strength for organisations, which have
been successful in minimising work disruption.
We asked CXOs what surprised them the most during the crisis.
CXO Speak
People’s ability to change and adapt
We couldn’t believe a manufacturing organisation like ours could go digital in a
matter of a week
Traditional hierarchies have broken down, with us wondering why we had so
many decision-making layers
We have witnessed the power of network-based teams and how they can
deliver outcomes in a more agile manner
The ability of the organisation to adapt so quickly
We had been talking about Zoom for our trainings for six months, and adapted
to it in a few days
Breakdown of traditional organisation design:
~60 percent leaders felt that due to absence of traditional constraints, teams were quickly
able to re-organise based on outcomes and priorities. This has fundamentally made them
question their functional structures and start planning on creating team-based structures.
People agility and resilience:
Eighty-five percent leaders have stated that agility of their workforce to cope and adapt to
the new ways of working is the one thing that surprised them the most. Adoption of virtual
collaboration tools, mindset shift to effectively work without face-to-face interactions, and
the ability to manage productivity levels with personal and professional outfalls of the
pandemic have been the critical factors CXOs have appreciated.
Early preparedness was key:
Organisations that started implementing remote working (before the national lockdown
was announced) were better prepared to handle the situation, with only 10 percent of
them reporting productivity drops. Most of these organisations formed empowered
teams comprising of HR, IT, and others prepared for large-scale migration of its workforce
onto virtual working models, including preparing for IT infrastructure, establishing
workforce guidelines, training on virtual tools, etc.

15
Learning 7
Organisations are considering increasing the share of gig workers as others reduce
dependence in favour of full-time workforce.
Some organisations are planning to reduce the gig workforce in favour of permanent
employees.
With most executives alluded to the economic strain that businesses are going through in
light of the pandemic, and their orientation towards safeguarding on-roll workforce
interests as much as possible, the fate of the alternative workforce in the face of this
downtime seems to depend largely on the goodwill of employers. For instance, a leading
business conglomerate has assured its workforce that no one, on-roll or otherwise, will be
losing their jobs due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Other organisations are viewing it as an opportunity.
A few organisations are beginning to evaluate the benefits of an alternative workforce
model. For instance, a global business process management company sees employing
alternative workforce for their blue-collar segment as an opportunity to recover and thrive
post the immediate crisis. The company is also contemplating to venture into a shared
employment workforce model with other firms.
India’s gig economy was
projected to achieve a
market size of $455billion
by 2023*
A large majority of
this is expected to be
contributed by the
unorganised sector of the
economy, as India Inc.'s
adoption of gig workers
remains nascent at best
~80 percent of the
organisations we spoke to
currently have less than 10
percent of their workforce
base on alternative
working models, largely
limited to contractors

16
Organisations will increasingly focus on ‘quick wins’ as
they rethink their Future of Work strategy and future
preparedness.
Workforce
• New employment models: Organisations heavily reliant on full-time workers are
expected to continue to do so while others are earmarking roles to leverage gig workers
• New skills: Build future-ready skills using virtual learning platforms
• Greater resilience: Educating the workforce on risk management and niche roles being
designed for crisis management
Workplace
• Stronger business continuity: Deploying IT and physical infrastructure, scenario
planning and rethinking business models
• Low touch, high engagement: Concerted effort on the part of leaders and managers to
enhance employee experience while they work remotely
• Digital ecosystem: Adoption of virtual tools for collaboration has significantly gone up,
with new norms for meetings, hang-outs, etc.
Work
• Work design: Designing workflows that minimise human involvement through cognitive
technologies
• Smart automation: Robotics for integrated automated operations
• Process simplification: Simplification of transactional work to eliminate inefficiencies
Best practices for workplace and workforce dimensions emerging out of
COVID-19 crisis are highlighted in the Appendix
16

17
17

18
Augmented workforce
integrated with
robotics and cognitive
automation and digital
organisation
Revisit business models
Employee Experience in
digital workplace
Alternative workforce
models
Work from home
policies and governance
Optimising infrastructure
investment
Automation and
robotics
Building digital
skills
Investing in IT
infrastructure
Network-based
teams
Digital workplace
culture
Explore alternative,
cost-effective, crisis-
proof business models
to serve the consumer.
Ensure employee experience
is focused on wellness,
high-touch engagement, and
communication.
Consider alternative
workforce models for greater
flexibility in HR costs.
Define the meaning
of virtual working for
productivity, collaboration,
work- life balance, and
performance management.
Re-evaluate investment
in physical infrastructure
and leverage variations of
remote working models.
Leverage
automation
and robotics to
augment human
involvement and
reshape ‘work’.
Complement new
business models
by investing in
employee skills to
work in the digital
world.
Invest in IT
infrastructure
(both at physical
and remote
workplaces) to
enable the virtual
workplace of the
future.
Leverage Network
Based Teams
(NBTs), which
are empowered
teams with diverse
skillsets and roles.
Invest concerted
effort towards driving
a uniform culture
across the physical
and virtual workplace;
and establish
norms for teaming,
collaboration, and
overall engagement.
Bringing it all together
COVID-adjusted Future of Work strategy for organisations to transition from
‘responding’ to ‘thriving’ in the new normal
WorkplaceWork Workforce
Accelerating Future of Work: A must for ‘Thriving in the New Normal’
While organisations have seen acceleration of Future of Work on some
dimensions and have started realising value, a structured Future of Work
readiness assessment can enable organisations to prioritise investments in
physical and digital strategies, as well as adopting new workforce models
and remote/hybrid workplace models. Any Future of Work strategy should
incorporate the following elements

19
Appendix: Best practices showcasing
Future of Work acceleration by Indian
organisations, during COVID-19
lockdown

20
Workforce initiatives taken for survival today are shaping
the workforce of tomorrow.
Engaging alternative workforce
A leading automotive company is exploring the option of ear-marking roles that can
immediately move to a remote working model using gig workers on a sustained basis.
One of the largest media houses has decided to leverage freelancers/gig workforce for
content roles, and move to greater crowdsourcing of content.
A leading global automotive organisation is encouraging leaders and managers to use the
year ending performance appraisal discussion times to connect with their team members
and talk about their mental and physical well-being.
A business conglomerate is using virtual channels to conduct training for workforce on
skills critically required in the current scenario, such as managing ambiguity, managing work
virtually, etc.
A leading eye care company is investing in building workforce skills that will enable working
in the digital world. Their sales team is now learning how to generate leads and make sales
virtually.
One of the largest automotive companies has been able to design virtual programmes for
70 percent of their annual learning calendar.
One of the print media houses is using this opportunity to build skills within the team to
garner readership through digital publication.
Many organisations have installed a dedicated helpline for workforce and their families to
counsel them through the impact of the crisis as required.
A leading automotive company has launched an application to track and support
workforce with physical health and mental health. They have also partnered with an
external agency to provide wellness programmes.
A global professional services firm has daily virtual ‘wellness sessions’ for its workforce
on practical topics, such as healthy eating during work from home, managing anxiety and
stress, etc.
Building skills for the digital world
Focusing on physical and mental wellness
20

21
Organisations are embracing the workplace of the future
facing safety concerns and mandated lockdowns.
For a leading business conglomerate, network-based teams comprising of HR, IT, and other
critical stakeholders were created, which then came up with an action plan to implement
mass migration of workforce on virtual working model.
A leading IT/ITES company has developed the Best Case, Most Likely, Worst Case, Disaster
(BMWD) framework for scenario planning. They are working towards formulating an
organisation-wide response for each scenario.
A large global bank has approached the regulatory authorities to secure necessary security
approvals to enable 100 percent of their workforce operates on a work from home model.
Following into the footsteps of IT firms, a BFSI player has moved desktops and systems into
employees’ homes and provided data cards, VPN access, etc. They also crafted and circulated
guidelines and policies for work from home. Seeing the benefit of increased productivity
for their operations team, they are exploring options to introduce remote working as a norm.
A large eye care company is exploring alternative business models for its customer service
team. They can learn how to optimise physical infrastructure, leverage remote working, and
provide cross geography support.
A large electrical equipment company has enabled its employees to conduct lab testing
at home using virtual tools and systems.
Agility in response
Ensuring business continuity and productivity
21

22
Significant focus on facilitating employee needs during
this time
A leading private sector bank is exploring the idea of suspending the legacy performance
system and encouraging workforce to instead focus on “One-Team” sentiment to bring the
organisation back on its feet.
For a real estate firm, which had already invested in a tool for virtual collaboration, adoption
rates have gone up from 25 percent to 95 percent, with employees quickly adapting to the
platform to facilitate virtual working.
A leading professional services firm has invested in licensed subscription of advanced
collaboration tools despite having existing tools, to facilitate a superior virtual collaboration
experience for its employees.
A leading IT/ITES organisation is encouraging its employees to participate in community
strengthening and volunteering activities in and around their communities.
Collaboration
A leading IT/ITES company has been using various digital platforms to keep up social
activity amongst its workforce, with leaders undertaking concerted efforts of keeping the
platform abuzz to encourage workforce participation.
For a leading real estate firm, HRBPs engage daily with project heads and team leads
to understand their team’s situation in terms of wellness, motivation, engagement,
challenges, if any, etc. HRBPs then identify employees at risk and remain constantly in touch
with them to support and guide them through this period.
A leading technology company has used design thinking to introduce initiatives, such
as games/quizzes on its intranet platform, designed to target its significant millennial
employee base.
Employee engagement
22

23

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