Why I’d be happy to work from home post-pandemic, and I’m not alone

For many, working from home means a better work-life balance, with more flexibility and no time lost to the daily commute. While it doesn’t suit everyone, companies should offer both in-office and remote options

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In the home office, meetings can be held via video. Photo: Shutterstock

Australian-born Peter Kammerer has lived and worked in Hong Kong for more than 30 years, joining the Post in 1988.

Published: 6:45am, 22 Sep 2020Updated: 6:45am, 22 Sep 2020

Anxiety gnaws at me each time I check my work email. I dread a message from the human resources department announcing that it’s time for staff to return full-time to the office. I’ve not been there for several months and have grown used to doing my job from home. If given the choice, even after Covid-19 has been tamed, I want to continue doing this.

I know I’m not alone; surveys done since governments and companies began introducing work-from-home arrangements have shown that a majority prefer the idea or believe there should be flexibility. German labour minister Hubertus Heil even wants to make it a legal right for his country’s workers.

The safety of home in the midst of continuing uncertainty about the pandemic is a major factor for many; it means avoiding the health risks of the daily public transport commute and confined spaces like lifts, office kitchens, toilets and other shared spaces. But those are not my concerns, not when wearing a face mask, keeping hands clean, staying healthy and avoiding crowded places are proven ways to avoid the disease.

I’m more guided by self-interest: ensuring a better work-life balance; extra hours every day because I no longer have to travel to and from work; flexibility for exercise; cheaper and greater lunch options; and dressing more casually for work. In keeping with what a survey in Australia by the productivity consultancy Building 20 found, I believe I am as productive or even more so working from home than in the office.

Work is done, meetings are held and ideas are shared through video, text messages and email. I can’t comment on a survey of 1,500 German workers by the interactive presentation platform Mentimeter that found 13 per cent of respondents did not turn on their video cameras during meetings because they were naked or partially clothed or that 42 per cent said that what they missed least about working in the office was their colleagues.

My quibbles are that sometimes the technology is not as it should be and that I’m expected to pay for the electricity, internet connection and printer ink and paper I use.