Adobe not looking at pay differential as it embraces hybrid work model

Learning early that work would never be safe post the COVID-19 pandemic, Adobe has embraced the hybrid work model. Last month, the company formalised its remote hybrid work arrangement, allowing its employees to work from both home and office locations when Abode India campuses reopen. Even with this new work arrangement, Adobe is not looking at pay differential anytime soon.

"Remote working is not new to Adobe, as we've always had a small percentage of our workforce working remotely even before the pandemic changed everything. In India and at Adobe we are right now focused on implementing this hybrid work design. Our focus is not going to be on figuring out whether there will be a need to pay differentials to people who are going to be working remotely in some part of the country vis-a-vis someone who is at work. Because our view is that the percentage of the population which is going to be working remotely is going to be really very small. And despite a volatile global environment, our business continues to grow, and financial performance is looking strong," says Abdul Jaleel, Vice President, Employee Experience - India.

To facilitate its hybrid work model, Adobe intends to focus on being digital-first, flexibility, a mix of physical and virtual presence and expanding remote work. Basis the feedback Adobe has received from hundreds of employees, managers and leaders across various locations, organisations, along with the findings of the internal employee surveys, the firm has constituted a team from its diverse functions to work around this new Hybrid work model.

"To help make the hybrid work model conducive and effective for the productivity of our people - we are going to focus on the peer-to-peer management structure. This means that the decision to choose the days and the mode of work will be dependent on individual teams and it would be a cognitive decision they take together. In the larger scheme of things, individual teams are going to be accountable for their collective output and how they want to organise themselves as a work unit. We are empowering teams to build a synchronous collaboration, where they need to be able to supplement and complement, be available, support each other, and be accountable for the final output for the customer," explains Abdul Jaleel.

With over 6,000 employees based across Bangalore and Noida campuses, India is the biggest hub of operations for Adobe outside of North America. Unlike the industry which saw many technology companies let go of their employees, Adobe confirmed it hasn't fired a single employee due to the pandemic. "In March 2020, when the first wave broke, our chairman Shantanu called an all-employee meeting informing the company would not let go of any employee because of the pandemic," adds Abdul Jaleel. Moreover, Adobe says that it is one of the very few companies to honour commitments with third-party vendors, even though employees were not availing those services.

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