How coronavirus is leading to world’s largest work-from-home experiment in Asia

Thanks to the coronavirus outbreak, working from home is no longer a privilege, it’s a necessity. While factories, shops, hotels and restaurants are warning about plunging footfall that is transforming city centres into ghost towns, behind the closed doors of apartments and suburban homes, thousands of businesses are trying to figure out how to stay operational in a virtual world. “It’s a good opportunity for us to test working from home at scale,” said Alvin Foo, managing director of Reprise Digital, a Shanghai ad agency with 400 people that’s part of Interpublic Group. “Obviously, not easy for a creative ad agency that brainstorms a lot in person.” It’s going to mean a lot of video chats...