As the world reels from the impact from the rapid spread of Covid-19, one thing is becoming increasingly apparent: More jobs are able to be done remotely than previously thought. This is the workplace of the future and although working from home has historically been accessible only for about 25 percent of US workers, organizations across the U.S. and globally are rushing to put measures in place to allow more employees to work remotely.
While it’s difficult to say the degree to which these changes will be permanent, there’s little doubt that this crisis will dramatically change how work gets done in the future. Here are a few reasons why we believe remote work will become more standard in the future.
Companies Still Need to Produce
It’s true that most of today’s work that can be done remotely is considered “knowledge work,” i.e. work that’s already done electronically. Think programmers, writers, marketers, architects, designers, accountants, etc. If a job relies on internet and computer technology to get work done, it likely can be done remotely.
But other types of service employees will likely also start working from home more frequently. Think customer service, IT support, education and training, and even healthcare jobs. This is a trend that started long before Covid-19 swept the globe, with the portion of remote workers in the labor force tripling over the past 15 years. With more companies needing their employees to stay home, it’s likely they’ll find ways to have a wider range of employees work remotely even after the crisis has passed.
The Economics Require Remote Work
Unfortunately, this health crisis will have a larger economic impact in the U.S. and around the world. Already in the U.S. a record-breaking 6.6 million people filed for unemployment benefits in April, which is a head-spinning 3000 percent increase since March 2020. It’s clear that this isn’t a problem that will be fixed as soon as the threat of contracting the deadly virus is over.
For businesses, that will also likely mean a dramatic belt tightening. And making work more accessible remotely will play a key role in that. Companies will not only downsize to fit the current economic conditions, but they’ll also learn that they don’t necessarily need sprawling offices and fancy office furniture if workers can perform their same duties from home.
Technology Can Increase Capacity
None of this would be possible without the internet, of course. Technology has enabled a type of work that can really be done from anywhere at any time of day. That’s already been proven.
What’s different now is that technology is becoming the lynchpin in keeping workers productive and connected to their teams. Internet service providers have already lifted data caps to help people working from home stay productive, while collaboration platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams have seen the number of users quadruple.
The technology is there to support more remote workers, and it’ll likely only grow as the number of remote workers swell in the coming months and even years.
More Opportunities for Unemployed to Go Freelance It’s a sad and painful aspect of this crisis that so many people are finding themselves out of work. But for some, this might be the opportunity to become independent and go freelance. After all, the number of freelancers increased 12 percent in the three years after the last Great Recession. And while we have yet to see the true economic impact of the current crisis, there’s little reason to believe that, given the tools and the economic reality of our time, the number of freelancers won’t increase in the coming years.
