'Comfortable but...': CRED founder's take on WFH has Twitter divided

Kunal Shah’s tweet garnered several responses with many arguing that the benefits of WFH outnumber its drawbacks.

CRED founder Kunal Shah has weighed in on the debate of work from home vs work from office several times since the pandemic forced offices to shut down. Many working professionals are still working from home while a certain section has resumed going to work.

Shah’s tweet on the impact of work from home (WFH) sparked a heated debate on Twitter on Sunday.

“Impact of WFH on youth is the same as impact of children who study at home. No real bonds. No real social or network skills. Illusion of understanding and learning. No osmosis. Comfortable but damaging in the long run,” Shah tweeted.

The tweet garnered several responses with many arguing that the benefits of WFH outnumber its drawbacks.

Strongly disagree!

Remote work is democratizing opportunity. And the youngsters of today, mostly the ones living in poor countries, will benefit the most.

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For the first time ever, they’ll have access to opportunities that their parents didn’t!https://t.co/qEUVjXECvV

— Sergio Pereira (@SergioRocks) February 6, 2022

“Many people who did WFH are now happy & found something else to work on for the rest of their life,” Bitinning founder Kashif Raza tweeted to which Shah replied promptly.

And they’ll suck in that exciting alternative too if they don’t understand how osmosis works.

— Kunal Shah (@kunalb11) February 6, 2022

Many seemed to disagree with Shah emphasizing on the time WFH saves and even allows people to work out of their hometowns.

“With respect, disagree on this part. Some jobs don’t require work from offices. Most people don’t love daily reporting to offices and are happy with WFH. WFH is a step towards location based freedom for many,” a user tweeted.

I started my career WFH & it’s been 10y now. I wouldn’t have it any other way. How can anyone get any work done in the office & deal with all the junk food/commuting time/time away from family/no flexibility to fit in house chores? Playing devil’s advocate.

— Madhav Bhandari (@themadbhandari) February 8, 2022

Both of you can be exceptions, not benchmark. Kunal has point according to me. When you go to office, travel to work, meet people in person work with them, see them work, travel for work you learn millions of thing.

Fault lies in assuming all 10 out of 10 folks can do your way

— Hitesh Joshi (@joshi_speaks) February 6, 2022

Some seemed to agree with the CRED chief. Prakash Mallya, Managing Director for Intel India’s Sales & Marketing Group took Shah’s side with a tweet.

“Totally agree Kunal and I think it’s not only relevant for youth but for all employees. We are social beings and don’t see the WFH to be a sustainable one in the long term if that’s the only model available for employees,” he wrote.

Another user agreed with Shah. “When you go to office, travel to work, meet people in person work with them, see them work, travel for work you learn millions of thing,” he wrote.

Am surprised to see such an immature reply what has poor or rich economies have to do with WFH or Office. I strongly agree with Kunal and my view on WFH is it’s actually compromising the building of intellect of the young people

— jogesh bhutani (@JogeshBhutani) February 8, 2022

As the coronavirus pandemic gained momentum in early 2020, traditional offices were replaced with virtual ones. Now, two years later, many companies have switched back to offices while several made WFH a permanent option.

In early 2020, Kunal had favoured WFH for meetings.

I can’t be the only one who feels WFH is more productive for meetings.

Virtual ones end sooner, are more focused, have less bakar.

— Kunal Shah (@kunalb11) March 13, 2020

A few days later he tweeted: “Often juniors at work learn by simply observing and overhearing seniors and that process is suffering in efficient WFH world. Seniors should consider inviting juniors for some meetings just to observe on mute.”