Most Indian firms (42 per cent) would continue working remotely – most as long as one more year - as Coronavirus outbreak still looms large, found a new TimesJobs survey. The survey titled 'How do corporates envisage year 2021?' was conducted among 1,376 HR managers working in different industrial domains and startups.

Three big findings of this survey are: most organisations (42 per cent) to stick to remote working in 2021 too. Most plan to resume hiring and even roll out appraisals gradually to their workforce. Work-life balance biggest concern for most corporates, toppling all other organisational mandates.

Elaborating on the findings of the TimesJobs survey, Sanjay Goyal, Business Head, TimesJobs and TechGig shared, "The year 2020 will be best remembered for ushering in 'work from home' as the 'new normal' at workplaces. It's been a year of learnings and reinvention for both the professionals and the corporates. Organisations realised that the physical presence of employees is just a psychological requirement and work can happen from anywhere. Employees realised that they need to step up in terms of skills and ownership for their job role and adopt a flexible approach to work."

More details on the important takeaways from this survey are:

1. Most Indian firms will continue with remote work style in 2021 too:

In the TImesJobs survey, most HR managers (42 per cent) said that their organisations will continue with remote working owing to the COVID-19 widespread. Almost 40 per cent respondents stated that they will follow a hybrid structure – work from home (WFH) and office on alternate days. The remaining 18 per cent said that they would completely revoke the WFH policies.

Among those who stated that they would be working from home in 2021, about 50 per cent said this would be followed for the next year. As many as 23 per cent of respondents said they plan to WFH for the next five years.

2. Corporate India to hire actively in 2021; preference for AI, Data Science and Business Analyst roles 

The TimesJobs survey quizzed the HR professionals on how they envisaged the hiring scenario for the coming year? A majority (43 per cent) of them said that their organisations would hire actively in 2021. The survey respondents indicated the top five job roles that they would be hiring for:

1. Artificial Intelligence

2. Data Science

3. Customer Service Specialist

4. Business Analyst

5. Financial Analyst

3. Most firms ready to 're-hire' talent laid off in COVID-19 business turmoil

The survey findings of 'How do corporates envisage year 2021?' revealed that 31 per cent respondents will hire candidates on contractual basis next year v/s permanent roles. The survey questioned the HR professionals if they will rehire employees who were laid off in the COVID-19 pandemic. Surprisingly, 85 per cent of them said 'yes'.

4. Indian firms keen to roll out salary hikes in 2021

The TimesJobs survey findings indicate that more than 85 per cent HR professionals plan to hold appraisals in 2021. Out of these, a majority (43 per cent) of the respondents said that they would roll salary hikes in the range 20 per cent-25 per cent. Next 13 per cent respondents said that would offer a hike between 25 per cent-30 per cent to their employees. Only a marginal number of the survey respondents claimed that their organisation would roll appraisals ranging between 30 per cent-35 per cent.

5. Work-life balance most critical issue among all other employee issues

Employee well-being took the center stage ever since India Inc. started en-mass remote working. TimesJobs asked the respondents to rank the top three measures that will help to strengthen workforce mentally and emotionally. A majority (32 per cent) of the respondents voted prioritisation of work-life balance at the workplace. Practices such as one-on-one discussions on mental health, enabling virtual mindful workshops, were voted as the second and the third measures that companies would undertake to help their workforce.