'Work From Home culture to continue even after COVID-19 pandemic ends': Bill Gates

The work from home culture has worked well amid Coronavirus and many companies will continue with this working system even after the pandemic ends, the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation Bill Gates said on Wednesday. Strict lockdowns have been imposed in various parts of the world following the Covid-19 outbreak, forcing companies to allow their employees to work from home.

Bill Gates said, once the pandemic ends, organisations will rethink on what percentage of time should employees spend in offices. Several companies will expect their employees to spend below 50% of their time in offices while others may function as usual.

The Microsoft co-founder said he has not travelled for work this whole year. While the work from home culture has been extremely helpful during the pandemic, it is not very engaging, for which the software has to improve a lot, he added. Gates pointed out that while software engineering has worked well during this time, employees tend to juggle between household chores, kids and other responsibilities. WFH comes with its own drawbacks, he said.

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Message on COVID-19 pandemic

Speaking on his outlook on the end of the pandemic, Bill Gates said despite great scientific research, the United States did a poor job in handling the virus which has caused severe damage to the country. He expressed hope that nations would learn lessons and be better ready next time. Gates also said that China did not do a perfect job in releasing the data initially about the virus, which led to a waste of time.

Commenting on whether the strict two-month lockdown has worked in India, the philanthropist said the country has done some “incredible things” such as the use of digital infrastructure to transfer money to households in need, but the challenge for India is its population. A lot of people dwell in slums, dense areas and they cannot be asked to maintain social distancing. Besides, many people have jobs where remote working is not possible, he said.

Bill Gates also noted that despite facing bigger challenges compared to other countries, Indian industries such as Premjis, Primals, the Tatas etc are stepping up efforts to minimise the damage.

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(Image credits: AP)