Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Twitter has ordered all of its staff around the world to work from home as of last week. According to AFP, Apple has also encouraged employees to work from home, and Google has restricted visits to its US offices, while Facebook closed some offices for “deep cleaning” after an employee was diagnosed with the coronavirus.
As the demand for remote working continues to rise, the Financial Times’ Techdesk worked from home on Feb. 28 in an experiment to see whether this would work. The good news, the newspaper says, is that much of the technology supporting remote working, like videoconferencing services and chat apps, is finally mature and reliable.
The bad news, however, is that you still need to learn how to use those tools properly, such as how to light yourself or hide laundry in the background in a video call, and not to schedule calls with the Tokyo office at midnight Tokyo time. After all, etiquette is just as important as technology.
Photo: CNA
照片︰中央社
(Eddy Chang, Taipei Times)
為因應武漢肺炎爆發，推特下令全球所有員工自上週起須「在家工作」。據法新社報導，蘋果也鼓勵旗下員工在家工作，谷歌並開始限制外人造訪美國辦公室。在某員工確診感染新冠病毒後，臉書則關閉部分辦公室進行徹底消毒。
隨著「遠端工作」的需求持續上升，《金融時報》科技組二月二十八日全組居家工作，以實驗這種工作方式是否可行。據該報指出好消息是︰許多用來支撐遠端工作的科技，例如視訊會議服務和聊天應用程式…等，現在終於成熟且可靠。
不過壞消息是︰你仍需學習該如何適當使用那些工具，像是如何幫自己打光、如何在視訊電話時把背景裡的髒衣服藏起來、如何避免在當地半夜時間和東京辦公室通話——畢竟工作禮儀跟科技一樣重要！
（台北時報張聖恩〉
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