• Bill Gates stated that remote workers can lose spontaneity. Two screens can help.
• He suggested that workers could get a meal from all their colleagues while sitting at their homes.
• He said, "If someone seems to be free to speak, you could click on their video and zoom in and start chatting."

The Omicron variant of Omicron means that workers can now work from home, just as it seemed like they might be returning to the workplace. Bill Gates might have the solution for those who miss the office environment.

Companies are beginning to reduce their office productivity as the new variant becomes more popular. Some countries, like the UK, have advised people to work remotely.

The impact that remote work can have on employee collaboration is a common complaint from both workers and business leaders. Many argue that ideas and creativity may suffer if they are not able to talk to their colleagues. Younger staff can also lose out on learning opportunities.

Gates suggests a solution: Get a second screen, and put all your faces on it.

The Microsoft founder and philanthropist, Steve Ballmer, discussed the challenges of homeworking and how the pandemic has disrupted work in his annual blog.

Gates stated that spontaneity was the most important thing workers lose when they are not at work. This is why many of us started working remotely.

He wrote, "You're not going to have an unexpected conversation with a colleague over your last meeting in the living room."

He stated that he is interested in technology's ability to "create more spontaneity" and that there are possible innovations to duplicate it at home.

Gates stated that workers could view all their colleagues from their homes if they had a second, inexpensive screen.

Gates wrote, "You could look at it to see what everyone else is doing (except when someone wishes privacy and turns off the camera),"

He said, "When someone seems to be free to speak, you could click on their video and zoom in to start chatting."

Gates stated that this was not radically different to how collaboration works today and that we have the software and bandwidth to do it now.

This workaround may not be suitable for everyone. Exercising via video calls can be exhausting for remote workers. According to a Stanford paper, the reason for "zoom-fatigue," which was discovered in a Stanford working paper, is that they are constantly seeing their faces reflected back at themselves.

Nick Bloom, another Stanford professor, stated that teams can collaborate better by organising multiple one-on-1 meetings rather than a group conference call if they want to collaborate.

Gates shares his forecasts for the future and summarises the year in his blog, which he closely monitors.

He predicted this year that virtual meetings would move to the metaverse in two to three years and stated that Microsoft was working on avatar-based tech.

He said that 2021 was the most difficult and unusual year of his life due to the Covid-19 Pandemic and his separation from Melinda Gates, his 27-year-old wife. However, he expressed optimism for 2022, saying that he believes that the "acute" phase of the Covid-19 Pandemic will end at some point in the year.