Looming war over working from home
Plenty of wrinkles to iron out over whether this will be permanent feature post-pandemic
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After a three-month hiatus, corporations and their employees have largely adjusted to working from home successfully, but surveys suggest workers having a desire to get back to normal routines over working from home permanently. Companies have to evaluate whether working from home is boosting efficiency or wrecking morale – or both, setting the stage for a fresh clash between labour and capital, says the writer.
ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
HONG KONG • As the Covid-19 epidemic began to peak in Asia, Mr Piyush Gupta tried to boost morale for his quarantined workforce. The chief executive of DBS Group Holdings led his management team through a parody version of Gloria Gaynor's disco break-up anthem I Will Survive, in which they sang off-key praises for their new remote working arrangements.
"We grew strong," one managing director howled into a wooden spoon. "We learnt how to work from home!"