Is It Time to visit the Future of Work?
The current Middle East conflict and the disruption of energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz have exposed a familiar vulnerability: the dependence of Asia and Europe on imported fuels. With oil and gas supply disruptions triggering conservation measures, governments are again searching for ways to reduce energy consumption without compromising economic activity.
Against this backdrop, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has once again urged companies to consider remote and hybrid working models to reduce fuel consumption. Although framed as voluntary, the policy direction is increasingly visible. The logic is straightforward: India witnessed during Covid that substantial portions of the economy continued functioning despite widespread restrictions on mobility.
Yet the debate should not be framed as a return to the work-from-home experiment of 2020. The question in 2026 is different. It is whether the world of work itself has changed.
For several years I have argued that hybrid working—not complete remote work—is the more sustainable model. By hybrid working I refer to employees spending two to three days in the office and the remainder working from a convenient remote location. Such an arrangement preserves the advantages of physical interaction while capturing the efficiency gains of distributed work.
There were
Pros and Cons
of remote working
from the
Covid Crisis
The case extends beyond fuel savings. Reduced commuting lowers energy consumption and urban congestion; companies require less office infrastructure; employees gain flexibility and better work-life balance; and organisations are pushed toward digitisation and more efficient workflows.
Countries such as India, with megacities increasingly constrained by traffic, pollution and infrastructure stress, arguably stand to benefit even more. Daily commuting in cities such as Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi consumes enormous amounts of productive time and fuel. Hybrid work could effectively become a form of productivity infrastructure without requiring additional capital expenditure.
Beyond individual fuel savings, the environmental math favors distributed work over traditional centralization. Maintaining massive, climate-controlled skyscrapers requires an immense baseline of energy for lighting, AC, and elevator systems, regardless of daily occupancy. In contrast, a hybrid model and decentralized energy use significantly lowers the total carbon footprint. By reducing the reliance on energy-intensive corporate “monoliths” and shifting toward energy-efficient home-offices or local hubs, organizations can achieve meaningful sustainability goals that go far beyond simple commuting statistics.
Yet after the Covid crisis, much of corporate India reverted to traditional work structures: five days a week, fixed office attendance and an emphasis on physical presence. A significant opportunity for workplace transformation was largely abandoned.
One explanation frequently offered was concern over moonlighting and productivity leakage during remote work. To some degree, forms of “ethical moonlighting” have always existed. Employees have historically undertaken consulting assignments, teaching engagements or entrepreneurial activities outside core working hours. Such activity should matter only if it compromises performance, creates conflicts of interest or damages organisational culture.
The deeper issue may lie elsewhere.
Indian firms still have past legacy weighing upon them
Many Indian companies remain promoter-driven organisations shaped by a legacy of hierarchical management structures. Visibility often becomes a proxy for commitment. Employees are expected to align themselves with the schedules and preferences of leadership, and physical presence is unconsciously equated with productivity.
Ironically, modern digital platforms already allow continuous interaction and coordination. The barriers are increasingly cultural rather than technological. The challenge is less about tools and more about management philosophy.
Indian firms still have past legacy weighing upon them
Many Indian companies remain promoter-driven organisations shaped by a legacy of hierarchical management structures. Visibility often becomes a proxy for commitment. Employees are expected to align themselves with the schedules and preferences of leadership, and physical presence is unconsciously equated with productivity.
Ironically, modern digital platforms already allow continuous interaction and coordination. The barriers are increasingly cultural rather than technological. The challenge is less about tools and more about management philosophy.
Artificial Intelligence can be the differentiator
in hybrid remote working this time
What differentiates 2026 from 2020, however, is the arrival of a new force: artificial intelligence.AI may prove to be the missing variable between the remote work experiment of the Covid era and the hybrid work model of the future.
During Covid, many organisations attempted to replicate office environments in digital form. Productivity was measured through visibility: green status indicators, cameras switched on during meetings, activity trackers and login monitoring. Work became synonymous with attendance.
The outcome was predictable—employee fatigue, distrust and, eventually, widespread disengagement. Artificial intelligence changes that equation fundamentally.
Artificial Intelligence can be the differentiator
in hybrid remote working this time
What differentiates 2026 from 2020, however, is the arrival of a new force: artificial intelligence.AI may prove to be the missing variable between the remote work experiment of the Covid era and the hybrid work model of the future.
During Covid, many organisations attempted to replicate office environments in digital form. Productivity was measured through visibility: green status indicators, cameras switched on during meetings, activity trackers and login monitoring. Work became synonymous with attendance.
The outcome was predictable—employee fatigue, distrust and, eventually, widespread disengagement. Artificial intelligence changes that equation fundamentally.
AI and the new productivity frontier
AI has dramatically compressed the time required for knowledge work. Tasks that previously consumed several hours can increasingly be completed within minutes.
A business analyst can now generate complex financial models using tools such as Claude or ChatGPT rather than manually building spreadsheets from scratch. Presentations that once required days can be created rapidly using AI-powered platforms such as Gamma. Large reports can be summarised instantly while first drafts of research papers, strategy notes and market assessments can be produced in a fraction of the time previously required.
The shift is larger than simple efficiency gains. AI changes the nature of work itself. Employees spend less time gathering information, formatting documents and assembling presentations. Increasingly, value shifts toward judgment, creativity and decision-making.
This transformation is already visible across industries:
- Consulting firms increasingly use AI for first-level analysis and presentation development.
- Software developers rely on AI coding assistants to accelerate development cycles.
- Marketing teams use AI to generate campaigns, graphics and customer insights.
if employees can complete eight hours of traditional work in four, does physical presence remain the optimal measure of contribution?
From
Surveillance
To
Intelligence
One of the greatest fears surrounding remote work was “presenteeism without productivity”—the concern that employees might appear available while contributing little. Many firms responded with surveillance tools: mouse movement checks, mandatory video participation and activity tracking systems. Such approaches often created mistrust.
AI allows a more intelligent alternative. Rather than monitoring physical activity, organisations can increasingly monitor outcomes.
AI-enabled systems can track project progression, identify bottlenecks and evaluate collaboration patterns. Performance dashboards can assess contribution based on deliverables, decisions and measurable outputs rather than digital presence.
Was the employee online? to Was value created?
Building the
Virtual
Organisation
Covid also revealed the problem of fragmented knowledge. Information frequently remained trapped within emails, meeting notes and individual employees.
AI increasingly acts as an organisational memory layer. Meeting assistants can automatically generate summaries, identify action points and document decisions. Internal AI systems can retrieve historical information instantly and reduce dependence on individual knowledge holders.
Similarly, AI can reduce meeting overload by enabling asynchronous work. Meeting agents can attend discussions, extract decisions and circulate summaries, allowing global teams to collaborate without requiring simultaneous participation.
This changes the role of the office itself. The debate is no longer office versus home. Routine analytical work can increasingly happen anywhere. Offices may evolve into spaces primarily intended for collaboration, mentoring, negotiation and innovation—the areas where human interaction retains a decisive advantage.
The remote-work debate of 2020 was a technological experiment forced by crisis. The hybrid-work debate of 2026 may become an economic choice enabled by artificial intelligence. The question is no longer whether people can work remotely. The more relevant question may be whether organisations can afford not to.
The debate around hybrid working is no longer merely an HR policy discussion; it is increasingly becoming a question of economics, energy security and organisational design. The Covid period proved that work can continue beyond the physical office. Artificial intelligence now provides the missing infrastructure that can make such models more productive, measurable and scalable. Companies that continue to equate physical presence with productivity risk optimising for yesterday’s workplace rather than tomorrow’s. The firms that will gain advantage may not necessarily be those bringing employees back to offices, but those redesigning work itself around outcomes, flexibility and intelligent collaboration.
Business leaders would do well to recognise the AI reality unfolding across workplaces: the competitive advantage of the future may lie not in bringing people back to offices, but in redesigning work itself around intelligence, outcomes and flexibility.” Ultimately, the firms that will lead the next decade are those that recognize that talent density is no longer geographically capped. By embracing a hybrid, AI-augmented model, companies can access a global pool of elite professionals who prioritize autonomy and outcome over attendance. Hope more practical sense prevails!
Yesterday’s this article stayed with me, and the long stretch of travel gave me the perfect quiet window to put my thoughts into words…… i guess the question we need to answer is not just WFH or WFO but more improtanly how we ill make the leaders of tomorrow. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/we-solved-where-work-happens-havent-how-leaders-get-made-sankaran-zfbpc/