One of the major fallouts of the pandemic is that our offices, schools, boardrooms and even our music classes have moved online. Remote working suddenly became the new normal (“Majority of UAE professionals want virtual working environment in post-pandemic era,” April 19, Gulf Today).

Zoom sessions and Google classrooms have proved very convenient. So it is not surprising that a very high percentage of professionals across various sectors in the UAE hope to continue working remotely, or mixing the virtual office with visits to the office occasionally even after the ongoing pandemic has reached its conclusion.

The article points out that the views of UAE professionals insisting they would like to work completely virtually or see remote and on-site working come together aligns to the 89% global average. And that is a feather in the cap of the digital prowess of the UAE.

The nation’s high readiness for digital capabilities to enable remote work, has indicated that 31 per cent would prefer to work at home on a full-time basis compared to the 24 per cent at the global level.

Of course remote working cuts down on time spent on travelling, which means saving on fuel and of course helping the environment in the process. But there is also a flipside to the issue, which is that the home and office has merged into one. Not a healthy trend if one talks of ‘Me’ time. May be we have tolerated it until now because of the virus is still raging.

Will the trend continue? Time will tell. I am sure many will agree with me that sometimes the real office beats the virtual one.

Carmen R
By email