THE concept of `worl( from home` was alien to most before the pandemic. Covid created social distance at many levels, caused heavy losses to many industries, and even led to the closure of several businesses. As calls for social distancing grew louder, organisations let scores of employees go, switching to the work-from-home model with fewer people. Those in manufacturing jobs, or employed as hospital staff, had to observe strict precautionary measures.

As no country was spared pandemicrelated damage, worl( from home was adopted by all. Today, other than the United States, work from home is allowed only when employees cite exceptional circumstances. However, major companies in the US Home Depot, Target, Microsof t, 3M and Intel etc prefer regular office routines. According to a survey by prominent economists, remote work rates support the notion that more people are worl(ing from home now than they were in pre-pandemic days. A recent article in the Wall Streetfournal discusses how remote and hybrid worl( has reached a `new equilibrium`. Before the pandemic, only seven per cent of worl(days were remote. The rate shot up during Covid, and has now settled at just over a quarter of all workdays.

Many high-profile chief executives push for a five-day office weel(. Despite this, economists note that the fact that remote worl( rates are barely dropping shows employees have successfully negotiated a middle ground. The remote work reality is entirely different from the `remote work is dead` claim. It entails tangible advantages. The US has stuck to the work-from-home phenomenon because the country has an employment market that is more robust than others. Therefore, people arein a better bargaining position to getjobs oftheirchoice.

The benefits of working from home are many, such as no commute, which also means reduced pollution. Employees get more time to rest, save transportation costs as well as the money spent on meals during office hours, greater flexibility in managing worl(, more independence, and no ofñce distractions.

The disadvantages include isolation, lacl( of motivation and frustration as there is no one to monitor individual performance. This is even more detrimental for employers who are unable to build a team, initiate and invest in innovation, battle challenges in communication, and are unable to monitor performance in person.

It is generally believed that some of the jobs may be best performed while worl(ing from home. These include web devel-opment, therapy, pedagogy, financial analyses, interpretation, and those of writers, editors, social media professionals, graphic designers, and computer engineers.

The solitary nature of working from home can drain people who are extroverts as they thrive on collaborating with others on work assignments. I did not find my stint with online teaching pleasant. Before the pandemic, I taught one semester to IBA students in the classroom. The live interactions with learners were enjoyable and satisfying both for the students and myself. During the second semester, the pandemic struck, and I was forced to take online classes, which became so frustrating that I decided to quit. As I have always been a part of the human resource function in various organisations, my key responsibilities have included interacting with labour unions, addressing employees` grievances, ensuring statutory compliance, dealing with government officials and handling discipline issues. All theseactivities cannot be carried out effectively without personal interaction with colleagues. Even in the event of ensuring compliance with labour laws, one may have to visit places within the establishment wherenon-compliance has been reported.

During the periodical negotiations with labour unions over their charter of demands, both the management team and those representing the worl(ers sit in the same room, facing each other. The emphasis of both parties is more about evaluating what tactics should be used to convince the other side of its sincerity while conveying the management`s point of view to the worl(ers, and vice versa for union representatives. The rapidly changing positions during negotiations make it necessaryfor both parties to observe and understand each other`s body language and respective behaviouralpatterns.

Similarly, when a manager meets an employee to resolve his grievance, it is necessary for him to understand the underlying cause of the worl(er`s grievance as mostly employees simply narrate symptoms without explaining the reasons driving their complaints. It is 1(nowledge about the latter that enables the management to strike a solution. • The writer is a consultant in human resources at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi.