The COVID-19 pandemic has hit businesses hard globally. Almost all of Western Europe is enforcing mandatory rules for people to work from home unless there are valid reasons for them to do otherwise, such as essential services.
In Taiwan, major manufacturing companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co are putting their non-production employees in remote work mode to contain the viral spread.
Home office might last for several months and this could become a permanent trend after the virus outbreak.
While this change of work style is an immediate relief from unnecessary exposure to the viral risk, it might also inherit productivity cost especially over the long term.
While one bright side of having to work from home is that it saves time previously spent commuting, it could be a burden to many people.
For example, many find it hard to unplug after work; many find it easier to get distracted by children; many struggle with communication among coworkers; and most of them find it hard to concentrate due to the layout at home, which is not meant to be conducive for work.
To improve productivity for those who are adjusting to this newfound flexibility of working from home, it is important to find ways to put that productivity back on track while working at home.
For working parents, it is a good idea to work out a roster with each other for managing their children, as childcare might not be available in these challenging days.
This enables the other person to engage in uninterrupted work.
Short chunks of focus are key. Working at home does not entitle you to the luxury of having eight solid continuous hours a day to work on your craft.
Neither is eight hours healthy nor necessary, as research on the basic rest-activity cycle as proposed by the “Father of sleep medicine,” Nathaniel Kleitman, who has strongly pointed out that people work best in 90-minute intervals before they need to recharge for the next bout of productivity.
To enhance productivity at work, innovative technologies can help, such as the use of cloud-based apps to schedule your e-mails and for virtual meetings.
For a longer-term solution, it is worthwhile to set aside a budget for home office design. For example, a good spatial layout, high acoustic quality and biophilic design can make your home convenient and comfortable for working from home with other family members.
Flexible home office design can drastically improve productivity and maintain sustainable living that keeps everyone in peace.
COVID-19 might have been the catalyst this year, but there is no doubt the future of work is going to shift to remote options.
This inevitably means we have to become productive at home, despite the challenges.
Joo Kwang Chan is the cofounder of MediOmni, a management consultancy based in Hong Kong. Ng Ming Shan is a LEED AP, and a registered architect in the UK and Switzerland who is doing research on construction automation and digitization at the Chair of Innovative and Industrial Construction at ETH Zurich.
China’s supreme objective in a war across the Taiwan Strait is to incorporate Taiwan as a province of the People’s Republic. It follows, therefore, that international recognition of Taiwan’s de jure independence is a consummation that China’s leaders devoutly wish to avoid. By the same token, an American strategy to deny China that objective would complicate Beijing’s calculus and deter large-scale hostilities. For decades, China has cautioned “independence means war.” The opposite is also true: “war means independence.” A comprehensive strategy of denial would guarantee an outcome of de jure independence for Taiwan in the event of Chinese invasion or
A recent Taipei Times editorial (“A targeted bilingual policy,” March 12, page 8) questioned how the Ministry of Education can justify spending NT$151 million (US$4.74 million) when the spotlighted achievements are English speech competitions and campus tours. It is a fair question, but it focuses on the wrong issue. The problem is not last year’s outcomes failing to meet the bilingual education vision; the issue is that the ministry has abandoned the program that originally justified such a large expenditure. In the early years of Bilingual 2030, the ministry’s K-12 Administration promoted the Bilingual Instruction in Select Domains Program (部分領域課程雙語教學實施計畫).
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) earlier this month said it is necessary for her to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and it would be a “huge boost” to the party’s local election results in November, but many KMT members have expressed different opinions, indicating a struggle between different groups in the party. Since Cheng was elected as party chairwoman in October last year, she has repeatedly expressed support for increased exchanges with China, saying that it would bring peace and prosperity to Taiwan, and that a meeting with Xi in Beijing takes priority over meeting
Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman for maritime affairs Rogelio Villanueva on Monday said that Manila’s claims in the South China Sea are backed by international law. Villanueva was responding to a social media post by the Chinese embassy alleging that a former Philippine ambassador in 1990 had written a letter to a German radio operator stating that the Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) did not fall within Manila’s territory. “Sovereignty is not merely claimed, it is exercised,” Villanueva said. The Philippines won a landmark case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 that found China’s sweeping claim of sovereignty in
RSS