March 10 was important day for Narayana Murthy’s Infosys employees as IT company takes big decision, to affect employees due to..

The initiative referred to by senior executives as "system intervention" aims to promote effective teamwork while also providing team members with flexibility, according to one of the executives.

After getting massive backlash over mass layoffs from its Mysuru branch, India’s second-largest software services company Infosys has issued a notification for its technology workforce, mandating them to work 10 days a month from the office. The IT company took the decision in order to bring more people back onto the campus. In an official e-mail, all the heads of the Bengaluru-headquartered company requested their teammates to reduce the number of work-from-home days that they apply for. The decision was effective from March 10, The Economic Times reported.

“To support this, starting March 10, 2025, system interventions will be implemented to limit the number of work-from-home days that can be applied each month. These measures are designed to ensure compliance with the new hybrid work requirements while maintaining flexibility for employees,” said the official email.

The initiative referred to by senior executives as “system intervention” aims to promote effective teamwork while also providing team members with flexibility, according to one of the executives.

However, the IT giant, which has about 323,000 employees, didn’t comment on the development.

“As you know, our hybrid work model expects employees to work from the office for at least 10 days a month, or as per business requirements, whichever is higher,” the email added.

It is to be noted that the decision affected to employees who are at job level 5 (JL5) and below. This will also affect those who are at JL6 and above include managers, senior managers, and other managers, excluding vice presidents.

Infosys employees are now required to use a mobile application to log their attendance, which will not automatically approve work-from-home requests. Employees must physically attend the office at least 10 days each month, as stated by a senior employee who wished to remain unnamed. Another employee mentioned that this change is driven more by project needs than by unit demands. A third employee noted that the previous flexibility allowed them to save significant time and energy on commuting, but expressed concern that this new requirement might decrease productivity for some staff members.

If an employee falls short few days in meeting the work-from-office target, the company will deduct the days from his/her leave balance.

Notably, the rival company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has linked its 5-day work-from-office policy to its employees’ variable pay.

Following the lockdowns caused by the pandemic, technology firms adapted to a work-from-home (WFH) model. However, challenges such as a declining business climate, issues with employees taking on multiple jobs, and a desire to foster a collaborative team culture prompted Infosys and other major tech companies to implement work-from-office policies.

On November 20, 2023, Infosys announced its return-to-office policy, which included specific weeks each quarter designated as “in-person collaboration” weeks, during which all team members were required to be present in the office to work together.