Working from home is likely to become a regular arrangement even though the world is increasingly emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Taiwan yesterday told a forum in Taipei.
PwC’s US arm has introduced a permanent remote working model for its 40,000 employees, who need to travel to the office three days per month or less, for key meetings or training courses, PwC Taiwan human resources head Alan Lin (林瓊瀛) said.
The accounting firm would adjust wages and perks for employees who move to locations with lower living costs, Lin said.
Photo courtesy of PwC Taiwan
PwC Taiwan would keep its offices unchanged for now, but it would seek to make better use of them in the future, he added.
Taiwanese workers mainly focus on monetary compensation, being able to be themselves at work, and being physically and psychologically cared for, Lin said, adding that 70 percent of them favor hybrid arrangements in which they can work from home on some days of the week.
Companies should seek to meet those expectations by providing fair monetary compensations and fulfilling work environments to recruit and retain talent, he said.
Globally, 54 percent of workers think their job can be done remotely, and 41 percent of Taiwanese workers share this view, PwC Taiwan said, citing a survey.
Lin said higher wages can help retain talent, but overreliance on pay increases might contribute to inflation, as companies would have to pass higher personnel costs to customers.
Companies should instead pay attention to workers’ needs, as global data showed that they are willing to spend 20 to 25 percent of their income on improving their work-life balance, he said.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
POWER BUILDUP: Powered by Nvidia’s B200 Blackwell chips, the data center would support MediaTek’s computing power demand and business growth, the company said Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) data center with a maximum capacity of 45 megawatts to meet its rising demand for computing power required to develop new advanced chips for AI applications. The company has completed the first-phase computing power buildup at the data center in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), providing 15 megawatts of capacity to support its research and development (R&D) capabilities, despite an industrywide shortage of key components, MediaTek said. Supply constraints have plagued a wide range of key components, including memory chips, solid-state drives, power supply units and central
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
RSS