A Malaysian man has sparked discussion online after questioning why many companies still require employees to work from the office five days a week, especially for jobs that are largely laptop-based.
In a post shared on social media, he said he could understand the need for physical presence in roles involving manual or on-site work.
However, he felt it was illogical for employees whose work is entirely done on laptops to be required to commute daily.
He also pointed out that traffic conditions in the Klang Valley appear to be worsening over time, making daily travel to the office increasingly frustrating.
“Does anyone know why?” he asked, inviting others to weigh in.
Netizens divided over work-from-home realities
The post drew mixed reactions, with some netizens agreeing that mandatory office attendance feels unnecessary for certain roles, while others shared frustrations with work-from-home arrangements.
One commenter, who said he frequently deals with clients and suppliers who work from home, claimed that some people tend to abuse the flexibility.
“Replying to emails becomes lazy, issues that can be settled in a week drag on for two months, and everyone keeps pushing responsibility around,” he wrote, adding that he often ends up escalating matters to managers or directors.
According to him, such behaviour makes it difficult for companies to fully trust remote work arrangements, leading to micromanagement.
Cost and distance add to frustration
Another netizen criticised companies for failing to consider employees who live far from Kuala Lumpur.
“They expect us to come into the office every single day, yet we have to cover petrol and toll expenses ourselves,” the commenter said, adding that a large portion of their salary goes towards commuting costs.
They also claimed that when mistakes happen, work-from-home privileges are often the first to be revoked.
“Everything is still done online anyway”
Others echoed the original poster’s sentiments, saying their jobs are already fully digital.
“In my case, I work using a laptop. There’s no face-to-face work. Meetings are on Teams, even communication with my boss is on Teams,” one person wrote, questioning the point of being physically present in the office.
Another commenter attributed the issue to management mindset and monitoring concerns.
“Some still believe that not being in the office means not working,” they said, adding that computer-based work can be harder to track unless companies introduce more meetings or progress checks.
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