More Employees Need To Work From Offices, Says Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji

Information technology major Wipro's Chairman Rishad Premji on Wednesday said more employees need to work from offices rather than from their homes. He also said that coming to office helps in establishing a connect and an intimacy which is very essential for us as humans, and made it clear that no technology can be of help on the same.

"You can't build that connectedness and intimacy no matter how advanced technology gets. We are human beings. I am a big believer that we should be coming back (to offices) in some shape and form," Premji said while speaking at the NTLF 2023. Accepting that hybrid working, where an employee works both from office and homes, is the future of work, Premji said the technology industry is one of the most "spoilt" sector where people enjoy this unique way of working.

"People should have flexibility to work from home but people should also be coming into organisations," he said. Premji said it was possible to work from homes in the initial days of the pandemic but with the attrition rising to record highs over the last two years, up to 60 per cent of workforce in a company are new hires and they need to be get a taste of the culture in an organisation. He also made it clear that culture is a journey and not a destination, which can be readily achieved by ticking-off all the boxes. According to him, Wipro has taken a call to shift to trust rather than control when it comes to accountability and productivity on working from home.

"The whole element of accountability is moving in more and more to trust as opposed to control, and dealing with exceptions more stringently is the way forward," he said. In comments on corporate leadership styles and how they have evolved, Premji said, "I think that the days of the authoritarian leader are more and more diminishing... I am a big believer in the inclusive, caring and empathetic style of leading".