Sridhar Vembu says "productivity is higher" as Zoho opens offices

Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu on Thursday said the return of employees to its company's offices in Tenkasi, Tamil Nadu, has proved that productivity is higher when employees meet in person.

In a tweet, he said, "Productivity is higher when we meet face to face, that is now quite clear. Our offices are starting to be full."

However, Zoho has not made it public about its plans to implement a full return to the office. At present, most companies are contemplating either a voluntary return to the office or a hybrid model, which does not disrupt the benefits many employees gained from working from home.

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Future of work: Work from home, office, or hybrid?

In recent weeks, both domestic and global companies are normalising office hours and returning to a pre-pandemic style of work.

Earlier this month, Google announced it would ask its employees in California to return to the office at least three days a week, starting April. Other tech giants, including Apple and Microsoft, are also rumoured to be considering implementing a work from office quota.

According to software firm Ivanti, about 71 percent of employees said they would prefer working from home to getting a promotion, while 42 percent said they would appreciate a hybrid model. Only 13 percent of respondents said they wanted to come back to the office permanently.

Last month, CRED Founder Kunal Shah made an astute comment, when he said work from home could be "comforting, but damaging in the long run."

This was backed up by the Ivanti report, which showed that 56 percent of women and 44 percent of men were negatively affected by the pandemic with issues, including a lack of interaction with coworkers, an inability to collaborate effectively, and the noise and distractions of working from home.