Interesting trends in the post COVID world :

75% of TCS employees to continue working from home after lockdown!!

This move is expected to profoundly impact the way we live, work, and party. Ever since the lockdown and the start of WFH, I have been engaging with many people across multiple industries. Here I am presenting a few themes that found interesting.

1.      Acceptance by Industry:

a.      This move would push its peers to follow the lead and plan something on similar lines. This might even encourage other industries to explore work from home (WFH).

b.      As more companies start practicing WFH; gradually WFH shall gain acceptance and become mainstream.

2.      Impact on Employees and HR practices:

a.      Employee relocation because of the change in the project would no longer be necessary. Companies would save cost associated with an employee relocation

b.      People from smaller towns can stay in their hometowns and continue to work for larger companies like TCS.

c.      Companies can save on the manpower cost by indexing the salaries to the hometowns of the employees.

3.      Impact on the cities:

a.      Reduced migration to towns like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Gurgaon, etc would reduce the population pressure on these towns. Consequently, a lower demand for housing. Real estate prices could come under downward pressure. Demand for office real estate could slow down. 

b.      Smaller towns may see population growth and general economic growth

4.      Industries supporting WFH would experience positive traction:

a.      Telecommunication (data bandwidth), Video conferencing, computer/tablets/hardware, home delivery industries would experience growth. Touch screens and stylus enabled equipment are expected to see higher demand.

b.      Augmented Reality / Virtual reality would attract greater attention. Online Shopping / virtual office conferences etc would become very realistic. The difference between in-person and virtual conferences would become imperceptible

c.      Home Gym/ fitness industry can see growth

5.      Change in the fundamental way of doing business:

a.      Education would move to online space. Schools and coaching centers would make online education a significant part of pedagogy. Children may attend classes once or twice a week at the school to participate in the laboratory, sports, and co-curricular activities.

b.      Gyms/ Health Clubs: People would go online and get people to participate from their homes. Smaller neighborhood Gyms who can’t afford to create quality exercise programs and can’t afford to spend on marketing might see a sharp drop in business.

c.      Restaurants / Pubs etc. would experience a long-term drop in traffic. Home parties would see growth. Thu online deliveries and catering industries could see growth in business.

d.      Airlines/Travel/Hospitality industries would experience a long-term drop in business. Business travel would come down as more sales calls/engagements are being done through video conferences.

e.      Health Insurance: Everyone would consider buying health insurance. This is great news for the Insurance industry

f.       Increased awareness of personal health and hygiene would help these industries to grow at a fast clip. With greater adoption, prices of sanitizers, masks, and gloves would continue to drop.

g.      Farmgate procurement of produce can become a new normal. There is a huge opportunity to improve the farm to customer place logistics. Lesser intermediaries, more direct participants will bring in a farm gate level revolution.

h.      Impulse buying would go down as more and more customers would start shopping online. Online shopping provides an opportunity for the customer to cancel even after ordering or keep the item in the cart until she decides.

i.        A consumer shopping for essentials would increase saving rates.

As I write this, many organizations have set up core groups to brainstorm on the possible future trends and how they need to adapt to those trends. The changes are going to be profound that the acronyms for Before-COVID (BC) and After-COVID (AC) would become an integral part of everyday conversations

I hope you enjoyed reading this short article. Please do share your comments.

Images used in the article belong to the creators/publishers. TCS has been used as a placeholder.