‪Remote work platforms quickly being adapted across China

Remote work models, from conference calls to online training, are quickly taking hold in China as a growing number of companies encourage temporary home-based work to contain the novel coronavirus.

Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai are the top three cities for usage of conference calls powered by WeChat Work, an all-in-one communications app dedicated to enterprises, according to a recent report published by developer Tencent Holdings Ltd.

Users in the cities also opted for online documents, the report said, citing data based on user trends since Feb 3, when some companies first resumed work after the prolonged Spring Festival this year.

On the other hand, users in Qinghai, Hainan and Jilin provinces are least reliant on conference calls. Those working from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Gansu province and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region are most efficient in their online dialogue, recording the shortest conference call durations on average.

Company owners from Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, where business activities traditionally remain vibrant, are most earnest in checking health conditions of employees, the report said.

In terms of sectors, education, healthcare and government agencies take the top three spots in handling business requirements via software. The most online training is conducted by users in Guangdong, Hebei and Hunan provinces.

As regards the education industry, WeChat Work also enables messages and push notifications to parents, so they can receive notifications from teachers in a prompt and timely manner. Parents from Baoji of Shaanxi province, Shenzhen and Hebei province's capital city Shijiazhuang are most active in online engagement with school faculty.