Work from Anywhere: A Talent Strategy India Can’t Afford to Ignore

If your organisation isn’t exploring work-from-anywhere (WFA) as a serious talent strategy, you’re overlooking a critical competitive advantage. WFA enables firms to hire and retain top-tier talent without geographic constraints. It’s not just about flexibility—it’s about access, equity, and performance.

I’ve spent over a decade researching WFA, well before the pandemic normalised remote work. My new book, The World Is Your Office, distils insights from years of studying WFA adoption across large corporations, startups, and even governments—including in India.

Let’s be clear: WFA is not the same as work-from-home. Under WFA, individuals choose where they live—be it a bustling metro, a Tier-2 town, or another country. They can work from a co-working space, a satellite office, a local cafe, or even their home. Global firms across industries—like Atlassian, Spotify, Airbnb, and GitLab—have embraced this shift. The European Central Bank has introduced a ‘110-day WFA’ policy; law firm Quinn Emanuel has pioneered a WFA model in legal services.

So why are some heavyweight employers—like JPMorgan, TCS, Goldman Sachs, Citibank, Amazon and X (formerly Twitter)—insisting that all their employees permanently return to office (RTO)?

The rationale varies. On the surface, concerns about productivity, collaboration, and organisational culture are often cited. But beneath the surface, there may be deeper drivers: legacy mindsets, sunk cost investments in real estate, control biases, and underinvestment in the management capabilities needed for distributed workforces.

Research also indicates that RTO mandates are followed by 10% attrition on average, suggesting that RTOs are being used as a tool for voluntary turnover, not productivity.

That said, WFA isn’t without challenges—employee isolation, communication breakdowns, and weakened onboarding top the list. But these are solvable. My research outlines best practices—from codifying knowledge for easy access, to engineering structured in-person interactions, building buddy systems, and using tools like generative AI to bridge communication gaps.

Done right, WFA creates better outcomes for individuals and organisations. It allows employees to live closer to ageing parents, helps dual-career couples avoid painful relocations, and levels the playing field for women—many of whom have historically had to decline opportunities due to family constraints.

For organisations, the benefits are just as compelling: lower attrition, higher motivation, and improved productivity. It also unlocks cost savings—by turning real estate into a variable cost.

Hybrid ≠ One-size-fits-all

My research shows that WFA can thrive even within hybrid models. The sweet spot? 25–40% in-person engagement. But crucially, these days, organisations and teams don’t have to follow a weekly routine. Teams can meet weekly, monthly, or even quarterly—depending on their context and needs. Uniform mandates make little sense. So, rather than a one-size-fit-all policy, different teams should be empowered to choose from a menu of weekly, monthly or quarterly hybrid options.

And the “office” doesn’t have to be a corporate tower in a big city. In-person meetings can take place in retreats, suburban centres, or local hubs—wherever they deliver the most value.

Beyond the Laptop Class

Thanks to technologies like digital twins—combinations of sensors, AI, and automation—WFA is no longer limited to desk jobs. In Brazil, Unilever runs a detergent factory remotely. Enerjisa Uretim, a Turkish power company, has created a digital twins headquarters in Istanbul from where engineers and technicians run 26 power plants all across the country. So why did Enerjisa implement this model? The best engineers and technicians were reluctant to live in far flung regions of Turkey and implementing the “digital twin” HQ helped the company hire better quality talent. Hospitals in New York now operate eICUs (Electronic Intensive Care Unit), where doctors monitor patients from afar. In India, Global Capability Centres (GCCs) already run global operations from small cities. The future of work is not limited by geography or function.

A New Development Lever for India

Here’s why I’m especially bullish on WFA in the Indian context. For decades, India’s metros have drawn away talent from small towns and rural regions—leaving them underdeveloped and under-resourced. WFA can reverse this brain drain.

Take Tulsa, Oklahoma. The city offered incentives to attract remote workers. The result? A revitalised downtown, more tax dollars, greater civic engagement, and a startup boom. Over 50 cities in the US now compete to attract remote workers. Globally, more than 50 countries—from Portugal to the Philippines—have launched digital nomad visas to draw in knowledge workers.

The Big Question

Can India seize this moment? Will our policymakers design a digital nomad visa to attract global innovators and academics? Will local leaders in Durgapur, Sikkim, or Kozhikode create the conditions to retain and draw WFA talent?

If Tulsa Remote is possible, why not Durgapur Remote?

Dig Deeper

Read an extract from Prithwiraj Choudhury’s book, ‘The World Is Your Office': Digital Nomads and the Future of Work