Logistics, information technology and media professionals were seen most anxious about returning to the physical workplace, according to a survey conducted by LinkedIn.

Based on the survey responses of 5,553 professionals in India, findings from the weeks of June 1- July 26 reveal how professionals from different industries express varied concerns and preferences towards ‘returning to the physical workplace’.

The eighth LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Index s state that 46%  of professionals from Recreation & Travel, and 39% of professionals from the Consumer Goods industry will return to work as soon as they are allowed to. However, 1 in 2 Software & IT employees said they will continue working remotely for now; this could be due to the fact they have transitioned to working remotely in a smooth manner, among other reasons.

The survey also reveals India’s growing confidence towards personal finances, with nearly 1 in 3 professionals anticipating their personal savings to increase, while 2 in 5 expect their personal spending to stay the same in the next 6 months.

As restrictions in lockdown slowly lift, small business employees are witnessing a lift in their overall individual confidence levels (up from +49 to +58 since June 15-28), as well as confidence towards finances (up from +35 to +51 since June 15-28).

However, this optimism fades when it comes to job security, as the Workforce Confidence Index shows SMB employees (1-200 workers) are less confident about holding on to their jobs than large enterprise workers (10,000 or more employees).

With low cash reserves and on-off lockdowns across several cities, business sustenance for SMBs continues to be a challenging affair. This is corroborative of the cycle of informality and limited productivity that SMBs across India continue to battle each day. In a recent LinkedIn Live interaction with LinkedIn News, former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said there is a need for providing immediate financial support to SMBs that are hurting, else they may run out of resources to sustain themselves.

As lockdown restrictions continue to lift and India braces to return to work, findings of the eighth Workforce Confidence Index underscore a pronounced difference in how professionals from different industries feel about returning to the physical workplace.

About 2 in 3 employees from Software & IT (65%), and 3 in 5 employees from Media & Communications (61%) and Transportation & Logistics (61%) feel exposure to those not taking safety guidelines seriously is a serious concern with returning to the workplace. In fact, 1 in 3 logistics (33%) and 1 in 4 software & IT (25%) employees also say lack of workplace sanitization or cleanliness is dissuading them from going back to their offices.

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