Working In The ‘New Normal’

We spoke to Samir Sayed, Managing Director for ASEAN and Korea at Poly and Ricky Kapur, Head of APAC at Zoom, for some tips on working and surviving in this new normal.

Kapur said that he foresaw the new reality as a hybrid future with video communication remaining a mainstay, and a mix of virtual communication and in-person meetings being part and parcel of everyday life.

Anyone looking for a “return to normal” would be disappointed, simply because there’s no normal to return to, Sayed said. What we need are working environments that are flexible, ready to adapt to the dynamic challenges that come along, yet also ready to be the kinds of organisations that employees want to work for and build lasting careers around.

Kapur said that workplaces are diversifying, be it the traditional office, coworking spaces or our own homes and the success of an organisation’s returnto-office policies will require supporting both on-premises and remote workers.

For Tan, he was looking forward to a future where he was hoping he would be working both from home and the office. Unfortunately, the management of his wife’s company hadn’t bought into the idea of a hybrid workplace, so she was facing a future of going back to the office.

ANYONE LOOKING FOR A “RETURN TO NORMAL” WOULD BE DISAPPOINTED, BECAUSE THERE’S NO NORMAL TO RETURN TO, WHAT WE NEED ARE WORKING ENVIRONMENTS THAT ARE FLEXIBLE, READY TO ADAPT TO THE DYNAMIC CHALLENGES THAT COME ALONG

SAMIR SAYED, Managing Director for ASEAN and Korea at Poly