Dr. Sanjaya Perera promotes remote working beyond the pandemic. According to him, it has multiple benefits including economic growth.
According to him, COVID cases have increased because of people returning to work. Travelling in crowded public transport and spending eight hours or more in enclosed spaces increased the risk of transmission.
“This is a recipe for disaster. If the public and private sectors put in place systems to facilitate work from home, millions of people will not be exposed to the virus and it will have a significant impact on the pandemic prevention.”Dr. Sanjaya Perera, Pharmaceutical and health management Consultant
According to Dr. Perera, remote work makes a lot of economic sense. Companies in Europe were shutting down physical offices and remote work was encouraged. Employees also received a subsidy to convert a room at home into an office space.
“This would also work here. A company must spend a significant amount of money to rent an office in Colombo or any of the main cities. It is also obvious that except factory workers, marketers and a few such categories, most people in any company can work from home. This will not only save millions on rent, but companies can save a lot on utilities, etc.”Dr. Sanjaya Perera, Pharmaceutical and health management Consultant
Remote work also helps the environment in many ways. A reduction in emissions leads to a positive effect.
“Sri Lanka spends a lot of dollars on importing fuel. Fuel imports can be drastically reduced by having people work from home. There will be less emissions that reduces the impact on the environment and it will reduce congestion, which is a major problem. I consult for a number of hospitals and one of the biggest complaints is that the ambulances get stuck in traffic.”Dr. Sanjaya Perera, Pharmaceutical and health management Consultant
Remote work also boosts productivity. According to a research from USA, productivity doubled when employees worked from home.
“Some people have told me that government servants are not working properly when they are at home. That’s because we have not set systems and protocols in place. There are many ways of ensuring that people work, from high tech solutions to just setting targets. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa comes from a computer science background, I think he is the ideal leader to promote remote working.”Dr. Sanjaya Perera, Pharmaceutical and health management Consultant
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