70 percent of Brazilians not comfortable with return to in-person work

A study by market research company Ipsos shows that nearly 70 percent of Brazilians are still uncomfortable with the idea of returning to in-person work, amid efforts from state and municipal officials to reopen the economy for non-essential activities. According to Ipsos head Marcos Calliari, Brazilians were the most pessimistic and fearful regarding a return to work among the 16 countries that participated in the survey.

“Brazilians are, by far, the ones who feel least comfortable among all the surveyed countries with isolation measures,” said Mr. Calliari, in an interview with newspaper Valor. “We are talking about nearly 70 percent of Brazilians that do not feel comfortable coming back to work.”

He believes the reaction from Brazilians surveyed mirrors the current conditions the country is facing with new cases and death tallies still figuring at the highest end of the spread curve. Brazilians are also fearful about a possible return to in-person schooling, as 85 percent of interviewees do not feel comfortable allowing their children to return to in-person classes, despite state and municipal administrators already planning to reopen schools during the Brazilian spring.

The survey shows that Brazilians have a bleak vision of life in a post-pandemic world, with the majority fearing that the “new normal” will not bring back a significant portion of the jobs lost during the Covid-19 crisis.

In today’s Weekly Report, The Brazilian Report covered what the future of remote work may look like in Brazil.

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