More returning to the office - but also to a new future of work

FROM Monday, more employees will be able to return to their workplaces, as Singapore makes a paradigm shift: from work-from-home (WFH) as the default, to "a more flexible and hybrid way of working", as last week's official statement put it.

Yet with surveys suggesting that a majority of employees prefer to work from home, this is perhaps a chance for employers to firm up their long-term stance on flexible work arrangements. As reopening continues, such decisions will increasingly depend not on what government regulations permit, but what works best for the firm - pandemic or not.

Currently, up to half of all staff who can work from home are allowed to return to the workplace at any given time. From April 5, this will increase to 75 per cent. The cap on how long an employee may spend at the workplace - currently, up to half their working time - will be lifted, and split-team arrangements will no longer be mandatory. On their own, these adjustments may not seem game-changing. But with WFH no longer being the mandated default, firms must actively decide where they want to go from here.