Infosys and WSJ Intelligence Report: Despite economic downturn, employees still hold power in workplace

Infosys (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, and WSJ Intelligence, a leading analytics platform that provides timely, custom research and insights for brands, today released a new report — “The New Workplace” — uncovering the biggest trends and priorities that will drive the workplace in 2023 and beyond. The report reveals tangible gains made in productivity, improved employee experiences from hybrid work, and the need for a purpose-driven approach to recruiting, company culture, and business strategy.

Infosys and WSJ Intelligence surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. senior executives to explore workplace trends resulting from the pandemic—from hybrid and remote work to the economy’s impact on the labor market—and how both employees and employers feel about them. The report underscores that employers are facing an inflection point: They must rethink work norms and learn to adapt and derive value from the long-term impact of the pandemic.

The report identified five key findings:

• Productivity does not correlate with remote or in-office work: While 57% of respondents agreed remote work boosts productivity, 53% also agreed productivity is a key benefit of working in-office. However, the study also found that certain industries experienced higher productivity from remote work than others. Of the industries that fared best with remote work, high-tech (63%), telecom (54%), and financial services (51%) reported their industries will likely adopt a “work from anywhere” model going forward.
• There’s no “one-size-fits-all” approach to remote and hybrid work — but leaders still care about visibility: Respondents are torn when it comes to remote and in-office work, agreeing that each company should make policy decisions based on business needs, industry, and work culture. Across industries, nearly half (46%) of leaders agreed office visibility was still important as part of the performance evaluation process.
• Work-life balance is dependent on remote work: 60% of respondents indicated work-life balance improved with remote work, while only 43% were able to achieve this balance pre-pandemic when working in-office.
• Employees value companies that align business strategy with purpose: When it comes to business causes and profits, sustainability and purpose are top of mind for employees, with 75% of respondents noting a purpose strategy is core to talent retention and recruitment.
• Employers determine remote work policies based on skills versus degrees: Employers are reimagining plans to hire, onboard, and upskill workers with a stronger emphasis on skills (64%) vs. degrees (53%), and they must make hybrid or remote work policies based on worker preference and performance abilities in order to survive. This is especially true for employers in the tech, retail, telecom, manufacturing, and energy sectors.

Tan Moorthy, EVP and Head of Delivery for the Americas, Infosys, said, “As ‘The New Workplace’ report shows, the benefits of remote and in-office work vary by job and industry. One model isn’t better than the other, which means gone are the days where location matters. Employers will make the call on who comes into the office and who doesn’t based on what each worker can do. Skills and abilities — not degrees or showing up at an office — will drive post-pandemic workplace norms.”

Elizabeth Nann, Executive Director, WSJ Intelligence, said: “In collaboration with Infosys, our research brings to light the growing need for workplace flexibility and innovation, as employees demand policies that match culture, and employers seek top talent to meet purpose-oriented business needs.”

To view the full report, please visit: https://partners.wsj.com/infosys/humanizing-digital/

Methodology

This report, conducted by WSJ Intelligence with sponsorship from Infosys, presents the key findings of a survey of 1,002 senior executives at large U.S. companies (with over $500 million in revenue).

About WSJ Intelligence

WSJ Intelligence conducts bespoke and secondary custom research for brands and advertising partners of The Wall Street Journal | Barron’s Group. Through rigorous analysis, WSJ Intelligence provides insights that are relevant, timely, and reliable. The Wall Street Journal news organization is not involved in the creation of this content.

About Infosys

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. Over 300,000 of our people work to amplify human potential and create the next opportunity for people, businesses and communities. With over four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer clients, in more than 50 countries, as they navigate their digital transformation powered by the cloud. We enable them with an AI-powered core, empower the business with agile digital at scale and drive continuous improvement with always-on learning through the transfer of digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem. We are deeply committed to being a well-governed, environmentally sustainable organization where diverse talent thrives in an inclusive workplace.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NSE, BSE, NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.

Safe Harbor

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects, financial expectations and plans for navigating the COVID-19 impact on our employees, clients and stakeholders are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding COVID-19 and the effects of government and other measures seeking to contain its spread, risks related to an economic downturn or recession in India, the United States and other countries around the world, changes in political, business, and economic conditions, fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India and the US, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry and the outcome of pending litigation and government investigation. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law.

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