Our work-from-home future

For many years, the primary driver of work-from-home programmes was the desire of employers to attract and retain talent. More recently, it’s been all about saving money, as organisations try to cut spending on real estate.

Most employers have more space than they need, and occupancy studies show how inefficiently office space is used. In many organisations, employees are not at their desks for 50% to 60% of their working hours. That’s clearly a huge waste of money.

Lately, working from home has been driven by necessity. Arriving at the office every morning at a set hour and spending time and sharing space, day in and day out, with bosses and colleagues, is a working style once seen as immutable. But Covid-19 has completely upended that notion.

The trend is particularly evident in Japan, where the pandemic has called into question traditional Japanese-style ways…