It's amazing that this whole Covid thing has been going on a full year at this point. Throughout the past year we've had many if not most people working from home, and a lot of talk about what the post covid workplace will look like. Some say remote work is here to stay, while others say everyone will be returning to offices once this is over. I think it remains to be seen, however the way things are looking right now, it looks like the direction things are heading is for a hybrid model. A hybrid model being where people are in the office 1-2, maybe 3 days per week, and home the other 2-3 days per week.
Now here's what's interesting. If we were doing this solely because we were freaked out about Covid this is somewhat of a dumb model that gets the worst of both worlds. You're still exposed to Covid 2-3 days per week, and you're not even taking full advantage of having people back in the office fulltime. This leads me to believe the reason for this is because employers and employees are realizing that remote work is actually pretty darn good.
Yeah there's something to be said for having people in the office. I think most people would agree face to face communication beats an instant message over chat, things are just more clear and communication is better. I think there's also a sense of comradery having people have a real face to face relationship, and there's time when getting everyone together and having a meeting can be beneficial, though it's WAY overdone in the modern office space.
I think a hybrid model will be a change for the better. Employers won't have to pay for giant offices and office parks as only a third to maybe half of the workforce will be in the office at a given time, so they can likely lease 50% or 60% less space. Employees will waste less time getting dressed, driving to work, dropping kids at daycare, and preparing lunches, which will in turn improve their mental health and waste less of their mental energy on unnecessary things.
At the same time offices will retain some of that face time meaning there is no loss in communication, no loss in comradery, etc.
A recent survey found that by September of this year, 4 out of 5 Manhattan workers will not have returned to the office. Now I think other areas of the country will see more people returning to the office. Covid has become a very partisan issue and New York in addition to being hit the hardest by Covid, is also a Democratic state and therefore more careful and cautious about Covid. That said I think to a large extent we'll see the same thing across the country, all be it to a slightly lesser extent.
Now this has positive and negative implications. I think in the short term this is going to hurt a lot of cities and a lot of industries. Industries who make their money based off people being in the office will be hurting. This includes companies who provide office supplies, companies who clean offices, etc. It also includes coffee shops, restaurants, and bars in areas that aren't very residential and previously made most of their money off office workers. This is a bad thing in the short term, though things will eventually re-adjust. A positive thing that comes out of this is hopefully we as a society separate the idea of time for money and replace it with value for money. Here's what I mean by this. Up until Covid most people were paid for having their butt in a seat from 8-5. It doesn't matter if you accomplish the same amount of work in the first 2 hours of the day as Suzie does in her whole 8 hours, you still have to keep your butt in that seat for a full 8 hours. I think the growth of remote work and the separation from the concept of time for money will slowly transition us to the idea of value for money as opposed to time for money. This theoretically in the future could mean if you're able to knockout all your work in 2 hours you can either go home, or be paid a premium for the additional 6 hours you put in.
What do you think the modern workplace will look like as we phase out of this Covid craziness and moving into the future? Drop a comment down below and let me know your thoughts.