Why Indian Startups Don’t Want To Go Remote Again

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent advisory urging companies to adopt work from home (WFH) amid the ongoing West Asia conflict has triggered concern across corporate India, including the startup ecosystem. While large companies, especially IT giants, are contemplating going remote following the PM’s WFH directive, Indian startups appear reluctant.

As of today, Zoho is one of the few prominent startups to have actively embraced remote work. Conversations with over a dozen startup founders across sectors suggest that the broader startup ecosystem is not in favour of returning to the pandemic-era work arrangements. 

Most founders based in Delhi NCR, Bengaluru and Mumbai told Inc42 that they are not considering a company-wide WFH policy currently, while some are evaluating contingency plans in case geopolitical tensions escalate. 

Behind their hesitation is a common belief — prolonged remote work is detrimental to productivity, collaboration and company culture. 

The Productivity Angle

A common pet peeve among startup founders is that WFH makes operations slower than usual, which startups cannot afford. Compared to IT giants or big enterprises, startups are more agile. According to a business leader at a marketplace startup, WFH has been observed to slow down startup operations. 

Taking the Covid-19 pandemic as a case in point, the leader said that WFH permanently altered how employees view office culture, accountability and work-life boundaries. While WFH initially emerged as a necessity during the pandemic, founders claim it gradually evolved into a productivity challenge, especially for startups operating in highly execution-heavy environments.

“I don’t think we should advocate WFH. We lost all momentum when WFH happened earlier. Startups work on energy, momentum and collaboration,” said a SaaS founder, requesting anonymity.

The founder added that if remote work becomes unavoidable, the company would prefer a hybrid setup over a fully remote arrangement. “We would still call people in person to continue the same momentum that we have. For us, in-person collaboration is extremely critical,” the founder said.

Another Bengaluru-based founder said the company will continue operating from office because overall team throughput declines significantly during WFH.

“We suffered from poor output during the pandemic. WFH works well for a couple of weeks and then the overall team output starts dipping significantly. That’s been our experience. We cannot compromise business output,” said the founder of an agritech startup.

The broader sentiment among founders appears to stem from experiences during 2020 and 2021, when startups were forced into remote operations for extended periods. For them, tracking productivity became increasingly difficult during that phase, while coordination costs across teams rose sharply.

Returning To The Office Is A Real Battle

Another reason behind resisting WFH is the difficulty in bringing employees back to the office. Restoring office attendance after nearly two years of remote work turned into a prolonged culture battle. Employees had grown accustomed to flexible schedules, the comfort of working from home, shorter commutes, and even location flexibility. Reversing those expectations, founders claim, proved far more difficult than anticipated.

Many fear that even a temporary shift back to WFH could weaken the culture they have spent years rebuilding after the pandemic. They also pointed out that several startups have made significant investments in strengthening in-office collaboration over the past few years.

“Startups are famous for making quick decisions. Someone heard in the meeting room, and things got executed. Now when people do WFH, the whole efficiency goes away. Startups are on a scale journey, a WFH will have a severe impact, unlike in big IT companies, where processes are already set,” said another business leader in a marketplace startup. 

Highlighting the financial implications of enforcing WFH, a startup founder said that many startups are currently locked into long-term office leases. Beyond rent, companies will be forced to bear additional expenses related to enabling remote work, which will include providing their employees with reimbursements for desks, chairs, WiFi and other employee support tools.

Founders Remain Cautious

While most founders remain opposed to a complete WFH route, many startups are actively monitoring the situation and plan to act accordingly. A Mumbai-based startup founder said that all travel plans have been put on hold for now, except the critical ones. “We will be able to take a firm decision on the WFH policy only two weeks later.”

For now, a large-scale return to WFH is unlikely. A few startups may choose to adopt remote work, but the majority are still evaluating. That said, a few startups are still choosing to adopt remote work as a precaution measure like Bengaluru-based Veerloop.io. 

“… We are looking to completely move to the WFH setup. The larger priority right now is maintaining operational continuity while ensuring employees have the flexibility to work in a manner that feels safe and practical. Like many new-age organisations, the focus is less on rigid formats and more on adapting responsibly to evolving circumstances,” said Verloop.io CFO Ankit Sarawagi.

Another founder of a venture studio opined that many of his portfolio companies are giving flexibility to its employees to retain talent. “Ultimately, talent is the real fuel. We should save it at all costs,” he added.

As geopolitical tension continues to unfold, India’s startup ecosystem may keep contingency plans ready, but for now, the office-first mindset appears firmly here to stay. 

The post Why Indian Startups Don’t Want To Go Remote Again appeared first on Inc42 Media.