Big cities were once synonyms with white-collar workers, but the pandemic has started the exodus of these professionals to cheaper and less crowded areas.
In fact, there was over a 50% increase in people looking to leave New York in October. This, in addition to remote working becoming the norm for many companies, means that business leaders must learn how to manage a distributed workforce in the long-term.
Research has proven that the majority of remote workers are experiencing a boost in productivity and a decrease in interruptions.
Knowing all of this, it is clear that remote working is here to stay. So it is up to business leaders to strategize the best way to keep their distributed workforce engaged, connected and satisfied.
This also means that employees won’t be running back to cities anytime soon. For example, Los Angeles suburb Santa Barbara saw a 124% net inflow increase during the summer.
Even large tech companies are opting to move to smaller areas. Oracle recently made the move from Silicon Valley to Texas.
However, this does not necessarily mean that big cities have totally lost their appeal. Still, people are enjoying cheaper housing, no commutes and more flexibility of smaller areas.
While the idea of moving to these suburban and rural areas seems ideal for someone who has long lived the city life, many forget that parts of America still lack reliable internet access.
This poses a big problem for remote workers, who need Wi-Fi in order to get any work done.
