There’s a light at the end of the tunnel. In other words, there’s always this silver lining in the skies. Isn’t it? So probably in that sense, it won’t be wrong to suggest that maybe the period of the lockdown has, after all, showed something positive or something to remember. Or has it?
We do know that there was a time, not too long back in the past, where there emerged a string of images emanating from different parts of the world. Several images that seemed to suggest that the ‘earth was healing’ were concerned with admirably better quality of water or pristine clear beach fronts.
The very fact that usual gross elements like the air quality, otherwise, so commonly doused with pollution, had bettered on account of the lockdown- found lots of takers in the World Wide Web. What a relief it indeed was. Wasn’t it?
But all of that said, what were the other positives that emerged from the state of lockdown. Can’t it be said that the imposition of the lockdown did certainly show the world that there was a way for much of the working population to operate out of homes. That it was possible after all to work from home, instead of it being some accidental template.
And now, it does appear that a country in the bustling heart of Asia- the important economic heartland of Singapore- might even adopt this as a mantra. In fact, that is what appears on the horizon.
So what is the news from the country?
Where the reports from SCMP.com stand, a leading web platform that concerns itself from news updates and reportage from different parts of Asia, then the following is known:
Most employees in Singapore should be prepared to continue working from home after the city state ends its partial lockdown known as a “circuit breaker” on June 1, the country’s Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing said.
This would be part of Singapore’s new normal for the long-haul, to minimise the chances of the coronavirus spreading, resulting in another round of “costly and inconvenient” circuit breaker measures, Chan said.
That said, here’s what’s most telling-
About 85 per cent of Singapore’s workforce has been working from home since the circuit breaker came into force in early April and schools and most workplaces were closed. Only essential services and industries crucial to the economy and global supply chains such as biopharmaceuticals and petrochemicals have remained open.
Now, whether or not, the concept of work from home in Singapore does become a definite reality, what’s known is that the idea is not bad, at all!
Why can’t we actually opt for a much smarter means of operating?