Work-from-home is nice, but the office wants you back

As we begin preparing to take advantage of the relaxation in lockdown to resume work, revive our businesses, or resurrect our social lives, companies and employees are trying to visualise the future of the workplace. Employees of a few companies did work entirely from home, but the number was not significant compared to the size of the organised sector. Tech at the centre Pratik Kumar*, a veteran of the software sector, believes companies heavily leveraging the cost advantage will definitely look at the option of allowing more people to work from home to save on real estate expenses. We also successfully on-boarded new recruits.” Senior HR professional Paul Simon* says, “Most tasks can be accomplished virtually using technology: hiring, on-boarding, training, etcetera.” While one would expect that such success stories and positive feedback would prompt more companies to consider offering the work-from-home option to employees, many are, on the contrary, wary of the concept. Overall, people may want to work from home, but companies are unlikely to be receptive to the idea in view of their desire to perpetuate a common work culture, and their worries about privacy issues and data security.