Brazil: Petrobras weighs up permanent remote working arrangements for administrative staff

This is what the public Brazilian petroleum corporation told Reuters following the lifting of lockdown in the country. The conditions are still to be defined, but the objective is to offer every administrative employee the option to work remotely. According to Petrobras, the experiment has proved successful in terms of productivity and has revealed potential avenues to reduce office costs as the company works to reduce its operational costs. Remote working will be voluntary, although the company anticipates that about 50% of workers in the administrative division, which has around 20,000 employees overall, will take up the option. Also under consideration is the establishment of so-called smart offices, with shared offices and meeting rooms that would be reserved by employees for temporary use, on demand, thereby allowing employees who usually work remotely to come to the office on an ad hoc basis.