Even as much of the world is confined to their homes and work from home (WFH) becomes the new normal, the CEO and Co-founder of online content provider Netflix believes that remote working has no positive effects as it makes it tougher to discuss and debate ideas.
When asked if he had seen any advantages of staff working from home, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings told the Wall Street Journal, "No. I don't see any positives. Not being able to get together in person, particularly internationally, is a pure negative.”
Hastings added that he’s been super-impressed at people’s sacrifices in the times of a pandemic.
Netflix, which is watched by nearly 200 million households worldwide, has in the meanwhile resumed production of its own series, documentaries and films.
Talking about the platform, Hastings said its 8,600 employees are not required to return to the office until majority of them had received a certified coronavirus vaccine.
Hastings believes that most people would continue to work from home for one day every week, even after the pandemic gets over.
On operations returning to normal, Hastings said, “We’re up and running in much of Europe and much of Asia. And we’ve got a few things going on already in [Los Angeles]. The hope is that, through September and October, we can really get - with proper testing - a lot more running.”
Meanwhile, major technology companies have indicated that employees will continue working from home well into the next year. Google has said that its employees will work from home till the summer of 2021 and has extended its remote work policy through June 30, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“To give employees the ability to plan ahead, we are extending our global voluntary work from home option through June 30, 2021 for roles that don't need to be in the office,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in an email to employees.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced in May that all employees who are not required to be physically present in an office, will be able to work from home permanently.
Amazon has allowed employees who can work from home, to work remotely through January 2021.
Facebook has said it would permit some employees to work from home permanently, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg predicts that 50% of Facebook employees will work remotely by 2030.