Question

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.

IBM’s CEO, Arvind Krishna, says, employees’ careers could suffer if they work from home. Krishna told Bloomberg in the Monday interview: “In the short term you probably can be equally productive, but your career does suffer. Moving from there to another role is probably less likely because nobody's observing them in another context,” he said. “It will be tougher. Not impossible, but probably a lot tougher.” He added that remote workers do not acquire skills, such as dealing with difficult clients.

1. Identify and explain the type of staff appraisal Arvind Krishna is referring to.
2. What is meant by work from home?
3. Explain the two ways by which an employee can be moved from one position/department to another in an organisation.

Answer 1

1. Potential Appraisal: It is the process of assessing an employee’s future capabilities and suitability for higher-level roles within an organisation. (IBM’s CEO's use of the words “career does suffer” clearly indicates that the type of staff appraisal being referred to is Potential Appraisal.)
2. Work from home is a work arrangement where employees perform their job duties remotely, typically from their homes or other nonoffice locations. It heavily relies on technology such as internet connectivity, digital collaboration tools, etc.
3. The two ways by which an employee can be moved from one position/department to another in an organisation are promotion and transfer. Promotion is the advancement of an employee’s salary, status, and responsibilities. Transfer is the movement of an employee from one department or location to another within the same organisation without any significant change in salary, status, and responsibilities.