IndusInd Bank introduces hybrid work, select employees get 2-day WFH

IndusInd Bank is introducing a hybrid-work model for select employees, chief human resources officer (CHRO) Amitabh Kumar Singh told BizTech Herald, making a rare shift in a sector that has traditionally been limited to on-site work.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recently urged employers to allow work from home in an effort to conserve fuel and forex reserves, as the war in West Asia has triggered a spike in crude prices.

The Mumbai-based private lender conducted a pilot a few months ago, where employees belonging to the technology, marketing, and human resources functions were asked to work from home for two days a week.

“We received positive feedback for the pilot phase, and now we are planning to roll this model out across India, and slightly broader functions will be included,” Singh said.

“In the first phase, (are) those functions that have been easier to implement in a work-from-home framework. In phase two, we have taken it to a slightly broader set of roles and functions.”

“Now, we have expanded to power naming functions,” Singh added. Power naming functions usually include operational, regulatory and digital functions, which drive the bank’s ability to operate and manage customers.

The model is not a full-fledged remote structure, however, and employees are still expected to operate within their base city and attend the office when it is required, Singh added.

IndusInd Bank is not the first bank to implement a hybrid work model. Axis Bank, the country’s third-largest private lender, has executed a similar hybrid model since FY21, following the COVID-19 outbreak, where non-client-facing employees are required to come to the office only two days a week.

“We have not put a cost savings number to this model… However, this will significantly help in the austerity measures that the PM has announced around the economy,” Singh said.

Branch banking and customer-facing functions will largely remain in-person. Banking is an essential service, and hence, customer operations, branch services, and regulatory obligations cannot be compromised, he said.

While Singh stopped short of calling it an industry-wide trend, he said more organisations are likely to explore similar models, though each bank may design policies based on its operational constraints.

“It’s a matter of time before more and more organisations will come this way…each bank will figure out its own way,” Singh said.