While companies across the globe are exploring options for permanent work from home for employees, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has expressed reservations about the thought, saying that it may have a negative impact on employees health. Stating that working remote may lead to mental health issues and hit on social interactions, India-born Satya Nadella added: “What I miss is when you walk into a physical meeting, you are talking to the person that is next to you, you’re able to connect with them for the two minutes before and after,” he told the New York Times in an interview.
Microsoft was one of the first companies to ask its employees to work remotely as the coronavirus pandemic hit countries across the globe. However, Satya Nadella said that asking employees to work from home entirely will just be “replacing one dogma with another dogma.” For now, Microsoft has advised its employees to work from home till October this year.
Satya Nadella also raised concerns about “social capital” getting impacted by permanent work from home. “One of the things I feel is, hey, maybe we are burning some of the social capital we built up in this phase where we are all working remote. What’s the measure for that?” Satya Nadella said. He also said that the companies need to look out for burnout and mental stress. Meanwhile, Satya Nadella has expressed willingness to support small businesses and other organisations which may be in need of help as coronavirus has hard hit businesses. Microsoft, for one, is an exception amid the dire times and has witnessed a 14% surge in its stock value this year, NYT reported.
Earlier, micro-blogging website Twitter had said that it will extend an option for its employees to permanently work from home as coronavirus has shown that it is a viable option. Jack Dorsey’s Twitter is the first tech company to announce forever work from home. Following Twitter, other companies also started to announce permanent remote work for their employees with payment giant Square Inc also joining the bandwagon.