Working from home. Is that the way forward for tech companies in Malaysia, post-Covid?
Well, we interviewed 5 tech companies to help answer this burning question better.
Here’s what they had to say.
1. Fintos Venture Group
Image Credit: Fintos FB Page
Approach: On-site
Fintos Venture Group is a tech company that services multiple industries such as real estate, finance, education, advisory, and technology industry chain.
Currently they practice a work on-site approach with strict SOPs in place.
All the staff on-site need to be fully vaccinated (applies to their visitors as well), have to wear masks, check their temperatures, and carry out a covid test every 2 weeks to ensure everyone’s safety.
“As soon as Malaysia's government lifted the suggestion of enforcing a working from home policy, Fintos Venture Group no longer practiced working from home unless there are situations where the staff are required to WFH due to health issues, as we are strong believers in working together in the same office to communicate better,” mentioned Toby Lim, the Operation Manager (HR Special Duties) at Fintos Venture Group.
“We believe working closely with each other leads to efficiency of each outcome without delay and prevents miscommunication.”
2. The Name Technology
Image Credit: The Name Technology FB Page
Approach: Hybrid
The Name Technology is a startup that develops proofing tools for the Malay language, and they’re also well known for developing the first spell checker and the first grammar checker specifically for the Malay language.
The startup has adopted an evolving hybrid approach whereby they work from the office for 2 days a week, and work from home the remaining 3 days.
While working remotely, they also carry out regular and short online meetings to share progress on work, and to also keep miscommunication to a minimum.
3. Tranglo
Image Credit: Tranglo’s FB Page
Approach: Transitioning to On-site
Tranglo is one of Malaysia's biggest payment solution providers that enables secure and seamless cross-border payment to banks, credit cards, wallets, and mobile operators.
We spoke to Hilda Hew, the HR Business Partner at Tranglo, and she mentioned that Tranglo is currently taking a hybrid approach while transitioning to go fully back to the office in the second half of 2022.
Up until June 2022, Tranglo’s employees would be split into 3 rotation groups every week. One group would be working from the office while the other two would be working from home.
The group that works from the office complies with a strict SOP (in line with the government’s advice) where they wear face masks, check temperatures, and they have to be fully vaccinated to enter the office.
For the employee groups that are working remotely, Tranglo encourages them to use conference calls (with the webcam on) more often to build camaraderie, avoid loss of information, and to keep misunderstandings to a minimum.
Additionally, they also reimburse computer related purchases such as wifi boosters to help with better remote productivity.
4. PolicyStreet
Image Credit: PolicyStreet FB Page
Approach: Mostly remote for now. Hybrid approach after the pandemic
PolicyStreet, an insurtech platform that provides massive coverage of insurances from vehicle, life, travel, all the way to medical, and pet insurance, is mostly practicing a WFH approach at the moment.
“In light of the ever evolving COVID-19 situation, we are currently practising a more cautious approach by encouraging developers to drop by the office every Wednesday, to do cross-functional discussions with product or even customer experience teams,” mentioned Winnie Chua, Co-founder / Chief Product officer at PolicyStreet.
“Several employees have expressed that working from home all day has put a strain on their mental health as they are not able to switch off from work so easily,” Winnie added in regards to the potential downsides of working from home.
“We may lack that spontaneous creative exchange and nuances along the office corridor, which then provides opportunities to build tangible relationships not just within the dev team, but also the wider company”
“Hence why we are in favour of having our team to come back to the office especially for collaborative meetings, but they also have the flexibility to work from home, as long as they stay active and easy to be reached by the respective team members,” she concluded.
“Ultimately we want to provide an environment that allows all to work at their best.”
5. Mindworks Interactive
Image Credit: Mindworks Interactive LinkedIn Page
Approach: Mixed / Flexi
Mindworks Interactive is a fast-growing digital agency that provides digital products from prototyping projects and usability research to developing mobile apps and content management systems.
Mindworks Interactive has adopted a flexible approach to work where their employees can decide to work from the office, fully-remotely or practice a hybrid approach.
High performers, self-learners and independent personalities can opt for WFH / hybrid approach whereas the ones that require guidance and frequent feedback can work from the office alongside their seniors.
Working on-site could be a good option especially for junior devs as they can get quick feedback from their seniors, and leverage that to upskill and deliver quicker results.
Final Takeaway
There’s no debate that WFH might be slightly more advantageous to employees, especially on a personal level. The most common advantages being added flexibility, reduced commute times, and it also gives employees the freedom to work from a place that suits them the best.
However, companies on the other hand are left to tackle the challenges that WFH presents, primarily communication between cross-functional teams, employee bonding, and lastly the speed of communication.
Companies that are larger and more mature would most probably revert back to working on-site as it’s something they’re most familiar with. Even from a logistical standpoint, it would be much easier for them to manage (and keep tabs on) a larger number of employees if they’re all working from the office.
On the other hand, a lot of the smaller to medium companies might end up adopting a hybrid approach. This way, they could still provide their employees with the flexibility of working from home, and they could also use this as bait to attract new talent.
With the hybrid approach, they could also bake-in team-building activities, and they could also iron out any communication issues between teams by meeting on-site from time to time.
Ideally, it’s all about striking a balance between productivity, flexibility, and employee well-being.
How about yourself? What do you think?
Should companies adopt a fully WFH approach, work on-site, or take a hybrid approach. Let us know by dropping us a message on our FB page.
Also Read: The Good, Bad, and The Ugly Parts Of Working From Home – A Developer's Perspective
*Editor’s Note: All company pictures have been sourced from the company’s individual social media pages, and they do not reflect or represent the current style of work practiced by the companies.
