IBM is planning to discontinue lease agreements at nearly half of its offices in major cities across the country, people familiar with the development told ET, as the US-based technology leader sees the work-from-home model becoming mainstream and a significant number of employees to continue working remotely.
IBM, which has a large presence in the domestic market, has more than 10 million square feet of leased office space across Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Noida, Gurugram and Kolkata. The company employs more than 100,000 people in the country and also has temporary workers through staffing firms.
“Maybe 25% of the people need to come to the office regularly. For others, it will be flexible, and their workspace will also be the same,” a source, who declined to be named citing company policies, said. The person did not specify a timeframe for ending the lease agreements. IBM declined to comment.
A senior executive at the company, however, said it would take a “relook” at many lease agreements that are up for renewal, although it would not impact half of such contracts.
As India imposed a lockdown late in March to stem the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, Indian IT firms shifted more than 4 million employees to work from home. Since then, the industry has been able to effectively deliver services to clients remotely and has ruled out a return to normal of all employees staffing offices.
Source: ET Tech
