Recent surveys from around the world suggest that a majority of employers will permanently adopt a hybrid working model when the pandemic finally ends - staff will be able to continue to work from home part of the time. However, home working has raised new questions about who pays for what. For example, if employees work from a kitchen table or study, should their employers pay for their internet connection or their ergonomic chairs? Switch thinks its booths may offer a solution, and some of its corporate clients already allow their employees to charge the cost of a booth to the company.The pods, which cost less than four Singapore dollars ($3; £2.15) per hour, have been created by a Singaporean company called Switch. They follow similar booths that have been around for a few years in Japan, where a handful of companies like Telecube and Cocodesk have placed them in metro stations, hotel lobbies and convenience stores. However, Switch's main competition in Singapore appears to be Starbucks, or any other coffee shop with free wi-fi. Switch has now opened more than 60 of its booths in Singapore. They are in addition to its 3,500 hireable desks in shared co-working offices that are the more typical way of hiring somewhere to work. Switch aims to place many more booths across the city-state. And overseas expansion is on the horizon too.
