Not only will offices look much different when they open back up to workers; the way employees work will also greatly transform.
Workers everywhere are currently taking place in the world’s largest work from home experiment, and it appears that this arrangement may not be going anywhere even once the pandemic is a blip in the radar,
According to a Gartner survey of CFOs, 74% of companies will adopt remote working permanently. Global Workplace Analytics expects that 30% of the entire workforce will work from home for at least a few times a week after the pandemic.
Technology plays a significant role in how knowledge workers are able to get work done from their home offices and will likely continue to do so long into the future. Tools like Zoom and Slack will become mainstays for many companies and in fact, may bring workers closer together as employees have gotten a peek into the lives of their colleagues.
Expect to see more companies offer more flexible arrangements that allow workers to achieve a better work-life balance, as well as the ability to avoid moving to large, expensive cities. In order to reap the benefits of a distributed workforce, which include increased morale and productivity, companies need to ensure that all employees are trained to use new technologies and are confident in doing so.