Working From Home Leaves Many Employees Struggling

Some believe it is inevitable due to the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak while others said it takes getting used to.

With many private businesses beginning to ask employees to work from home, following the government's lead, workers RTHK spoke to on Monday said they were taking things in their stride despite the challenges they now face.

Charles, who works in the shipping industry, said his company split staff into two teams last week to alternate between working from home and working in the office, but he's not happy about it.

"I don't really work very well at home. I don't think anyone really can," he said.

"But hopefully this is just a temporary measure before the third wave is under control. So it's a necessary measure, but it's frustrating."

Another worker, Jason, said his firm has also asked their staff to go back to the office on a rotational basis since last week.

The banking sector employee said he thinks the government should have asked civil servants to work from home last week when the current outbreak worsened, so the private sector could have followed suit and come up with their own plans sooner.

He said even though it may be difficult to complete certain tasks while working from home, he still thinks it would be best if everyone could stay at home for the time being:

"If I want to download some data used in the office, it's probably difficult for me to work at home. But healthcare is the first important thing. I think we can shut down everything for one or two weeks and when the situation gets better, we can restart."

A man who works in an accounting firm, surnamed Chan, said his company has asked all staff to work from home starting this week after an employee there was suspected to have been infected with coronavirus.

He said he was caught off guard by the arrangement, affecting some of his more urgent work. He said face-to-face collaboration with his colleagues is needed for certain duties.

But he also said he understands the need for safer working arrangements during the pandemic, adding that work-from-home arrangements could help discourage risky behaviour such as people having lunch together with their colleagues.