Driven by the current coronavirus pandemic your organisation may have to jump from occasional, or regular but small-scale teleworking into the prolonged remote working of the entire workforce, perhaps without any formalised structure or policy for it.

As you read this guide, more and more companies are letting their employees work from home as a result of the escalation in the coronavirus outbreak.

Working from home sky-rocketed in China in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis as companies told their employees to stay home. Around 200 million people  were working remotely by the end of the Chinese New Year holiday. While this arrangement has some benefits, such as avoiding long commutes, many employees and companies found it challenging. One employee at an internet company quipped his work day changed from ‘996’ to ‘007’, meaning from nine to nine, 6 days a week, to all the time. On the personal front, employees found it difficult to manage kids’ home-schooling via video conference while coordinating with remote colleagues. At a company level, many felt that productivity rapidly tailed off if not managed properly.

This article brings together our experience helping clients navigate remote working, in-house analysis, and insights from conversations with executives in China as they responded to the situation and addressed the challenges.​ 

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