The Future of Remote Working
The events of the last two years have shown that employees are motivated to work from home and can do so with (often better) results.
According to McKinsey, “Hybrid models of remote work are likely to persist in the wake of the pandemic, mostly for the highly-educated, well-paid minority of the workforce.”
As rosy as this sounds, more than half the workforce has little or no opportunity for remote work. Many on location (or delivery) jobs are low wage and at risk from automation—which might accentuate social inequalities in the workforce.
Small Business Owners
If you’re a small business owner, you can expect more workers to want to work from home or in hybrid models. And that’s not a bad thing: “More than 20% of the workforce can work remotely three to five days a week as effectively as they could if working from an office.” Employees who want to work remotely will be happier in the long run if they can, versus being forced into an office.
Something else to consider is a shift in spending patterns. Remote workers have spent less money on transportation, lunch, and clothes—and shifted cash to other uses like home office equipment, digital tools, and enhanced connectivity gear. If your small business offers services or products for easier remote working/lifestyle, you likely saw a boom in profits this year.
Employees
If you are part of the workforce, especially in highly-skilled, highly-paid roles, you will most likely get to choose where you work and how you work as the economy comes out of the pandemic. Employees who work a lot with ideas, communication, processes, and administration can easily do their work remotely. However, if employees work in a hands-on way, they will most likely have to return to the office.
McKinsey reports that finance, management, and professional services have the highest potential for remote work, while manufacturing, construction, and logistics have the lowest potential for remote work.
Future Trends
With “the Great Resignation” taking place, people have finally had enough of jobs that pay too little or ask too much. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4 million Americans quit their jobs in July 2021. Many people report burnout, anxiety, and recruitment as the reason they left their positions.
Regardless of where you work or how your office functions, one thing is true: the pandemic has changed the way we think of work and how it relates to our values.