A spike in local COVID-19 cases is driving companies in Taiwan to reintroduce policies for employees to work from home, the results of a survey released on Thursday by online job bank yes123 (yes123人力銀行) showed.
The poll showed that 63.3 percent of surveyed companies plan to reinstate remote working.
Since the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic more than two years ago, 58.1 percent of enterprises implemented work-from-home protocols, the survey showed.
About 50.3 percent of businesses said they believed that working from home was less productive than working in an office, 38.1 percent said it was similar and 11.6 percent said remote work was more effective.
Sixty-three percent of employees said they had experience working from home, with 41.6 percent saying that productivity while working from home was “almost the same as in the office,” while 36.2 percent thought it was “less efficient than in the office” and 22.2 percent believed it was “more efficient.”
Businesses said employers must overcome five challenges before allowing employees to work from home, including reporting and controlling work progress, maintaining customer service quality and business promotion, and avoiding blurring the line between employees’ home lives and work lives.
Employers also have to tackle a lack of opportunities for teamwork or brainstorming, and the need to improve communication while videoconferencing, the survey showed.
When asked about the advantages of working from home, 50.4 percent of employee respondents said that working from home helped save on commuting costs and transportation time, while 33.6 percent said it increased their sleep and leisure time, and 32 percent said it allowed for more flexible work schedules.
Regarding disadvantages, 40.2 percent of office workers said that working from home would result in distractions from family or pets, 37 percent said the line between work and life was blurred, and 35.4 percent said that meals and utility fees cost more.
The survey also found that 80.2 percent of employees experienced a reduction in their monthly income due to the effects of the pandemic and 60.3 percent said they had faced more stress over debt, yes123 spokesman Yang Tsung-pin (楊宗斌) said.
It also revealed that 66.8 percent of companies planned to raise employee pay, but with domestic COVID-19 cases continuing to reach new highs, 25.6 percent were considering reducing employee salary increases, with 32.2 percent considering canceling plans to raise wages, Yang said.
The survey was conducted from March 30 to Thursday last week among the job bank’s users with full-time employment and companies.
The poll collected 1,210 samples from 615 men and 595 women, and had a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 2.82 percentage points. It also collected 976 samples from enterprises, with a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 3.14 percentage points.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
ABOVE LEGAL REQUIREMENT: The Ministry of Economic Affairs is prepared if LNG supply is disrupted, with more than the legal requirement of 11 days of inventory Taiwan has largely secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies through May and arranged about half of June’s supply, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday. Since the Middle East conflict began on Feb. 28, Taiwan’s LNG inventories have remained more than 12 days, exceeding the legal requirement of 11 days, indicating no major supply concerns for domestic gas and electricity, Kung said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. The ministry aims to increase the figure to 14 days by the end of next year, he said. While one or two LNG or crude oil shipments for May
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
RSS