A year ago, we were introduced to the pandemic known as COVID-19. This led to a shutting down of the global economy as governments stepped in to stop the spread.
While this collapsed things economically, there are some positives. Much of it has to do with technology finally being embraced. This is going to radically alter society.
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The work-from-home movement basically took on a life of its own. During the lockdowns, many companies did what they could to survive. This meant turning to technology, whereas they previously shunned it. We saw a company like Zoom watch its stock price moonshot as a result of all the increased business.
Ironic that video conferencing has existed for more than a decade. The problem was companies were slow to embrace it.
The same holds true for management software. This has been on the market for over a decade yet companies did not trust it. Instead, they continued the age old practice of having employees come to work where they were supervised under the watchful eye of management.
Companies, after all, could not afford to have people working from home. The thinking was that productivity would lapse as the allure of cleaning the dishes or watching daytime television proved too tempting.
COVID-19 put the beliefs to the test. The result: they were unrealistic.
It turns out that employees do not need the watchful eye of management, at least in the physical form. According to Mercer, in an article on CNN Business, firms were surprised with the outcomes.
Working from home has often been viewed skeptically by managers and executives who assumed it would result in less work getting done if they weren't there to oversee it. But a full 94% of employers surveyed said their company productivity was actually the same (67%) or higher (27%) than it was before the pandemic, even though so many of their employees have been working remotely this year.
The fact that 27% saw an increase in productivity is astounding. This shows how much time is actually wasted in the office setting due to a variety of reasons. The chitchat around the water cooler or coffee maker is legendary. However, that is not the only factor. Many employees find their day is much longer when commutes are included. The added stress and burden of traffic and congestion often wears on employees.
Simply walking from one room to the next and turning on the computer means getting a start without already having the hassle of the early morning rush hour.
All this is leading firms to re-evaluate their approach in this matter. According to Mercer, a large number are going to offer work from home to their employees.
Looking ahead, 73% said they expect a quarter or more of their workforce to continue working remotely post-pandemic. And one in three expect half or more of their employees to do so. That's a huge switch from pre-pandemic days, when only one in 30 employers allowed for that.
Those are some pretty big numbers when we factor the survey covered 800 employers. Ultimately, this adds up to a lot of employees.
Of course, this extends outside these 800 firms. If we consider all the firms still in business, there is a lot of people working. Then, we also have to add in all the companies that went under and how many people are unemployed.
What this all means is a much smaller, in-office workforce. That is going to have ramifications on many businesses that are designed to cater to employees when they are at work.
In fact, it is estimated that these services are a trillion dollar a year industry. And it just took a serious hit. Consider the coffee vendor, copy machine company, custodial services, and local restaurants as businesses that will take a hit. Entities like this make their living off providing services that support people and help them do their jobs.
With many of these people at home, there is no support required, at least not in the same manner as before.
Naturally, the big elephant in the room is the commercial real estate market. This is already being hammered in major cities as large firms embrace the work from home concept. If this continues, it could be many years before these downtown areas rebound to where things were before the pandemic.
Which brings us back to technology. With the gates open, the companies that create the products that allow for this shift are not going to stop innovating. The next few years will see more software and business management architecture that allows for remote working. As the tools get better, the likelihood of more companies embracing this concept will increase.
Here we see even more pressure put on those struggling industries.
Work from home is serious business and it is affecting many other businesses.
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