by prabir jhaas the country and the world battles the threat and hysteria over the covid19 virus organisations and governments have responded in varying degrees some have encouraged their teams to work from home others have mandated a more severe shutdown curtailing of travel facilities and other support systems have also made a new acronym familiar to many wfh work from homethis round of wfh is more to push for limiting group contact and prevent the risk of the spread of coronavirus and not as much for worklife balance or flexiwork but my sense is that this will take us to another phase of influencing the future of work a subject for another day the big debate is will this wfh shift lead to reduced emotional connect at the workplacewhile the ruling is not out yet organisations and leaders can use this time to create a stronger emotional connect within their teams and with the firmencourage sharing of wfh stories most organisations turn sterile and believe there must be some firewall between home and work managers hardly appreciate the domestic distractions interests and predicaments of their teams if only they knew some could empathise and encourage better today there is an opportunity to share a glimpse of the person behind the role as people share they will express another side of their persona i am convinced that it will only help build greater empathy respect and support for each otherchange the nature of meetings office meetings are constrained by a physical environment wfh meetings will be quicker and shorter however it could allow itself to more enquiries about each other at the beginning or the end given the health worries leaders could learn to lead meetings with empathy rather than just run directive meetings to me this is an opportunity for nuancing leadership development and yes if you want meetings to be an opportunity for highpotential people to sit and observe you can more easily invite younger talent to sit in and observe this could be a great way of becoming more egalitarian and yet develop your talentsmart home working may leave more time for emotional connect a lot of time at work is sitting through hours of unproductive work and meetings possibly we will get more efficient and productive at work operating from home companies could share virtual tips and training inputs on these these will be techniques that can help carry forward improved productivity at even a physical workplace the time saved could be used to call another colleague or relative text with those you have not for a long time help with stuff at home without the stress of travel and just connect with family better to improve relationships at home companies could even explore some games and group exercises for families to try out at home and even run a fun competition along those lines as a chro i always encouraged family days as a better engaged family is a better engaged employee let