Suniel Shetty on WFH vs work-from-office: 'Taste of real pressure'

Actor Suniel Shetty regularly shares his learnings on Linkedin.

In the last three years, the culture of remote work has only grown stronger with a large section of workers preferring to work from the comfort of their homes rather than going to their offices, despite companies asking employees to return to offices.

Actor and entrepreneur Suniel Shetty, however, is a strong advocate of return-to-office, saying that the learnings and experiences one gets from being present physically in a work environment is unmatchable.

Shetty, 61, said he owes his growth to “having learned from people I looked up to, having built real relationships at work and absorbing so much from a culture of creativity”. In a detailed LinkedIn post, he listed reasons why he things the youth need to work in an office environment.

Learning curve: The Number One benefit of work-from-office, according to Shetty, is the kind of access an employee gets to the team and experienced professionals, something virtual interactions cannot replicate. “The opportunity to observe, learn from and engage with seasoned pros will accelerate your growth and success,” he wrote. The veteran actor cited his experience of working with filmmaker Priyadarshan as a career milestone “as the time I spent observing him at work and chatting with him was a game changer”.

Real relationships: In office helps build “real relationships” with people from diverse backgrounds, said Shetty, recalling the bonds he built with actors Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn on the sets of films. “I can’t imagine having built relationships like these, if I knew them through a screen or met them twice a year,” he wrote.

“Even if you feel like you don’t need to, over the course of your life, these relationships will see you through the hard times.”

Dealing with pressure: Working from the office will give you the taste of real pressure, in a way that remote work won’t fully capture, Suniel Shetty wrote.

“The richness of physical interactions, the joy of sharing experiences and the transformative powers of learning from others will benefit you more than some of the things you’ll miss out because you’re not WFH (working from home),” he said.

Suniel Shetty is best known for his roles in films like “Dhadkan” and “Main Hoon Na”. He started his entrepreneurial journey with a hotel business and has since expanded into real estate.