The Work From Home Revolution

I can remember a number of years ago when people first had the ability to “work from

home”. The studies quickly showed that “out of sight, out of mind” meant that the people who worked from home didn’t get promoted or get raises, at the same rate as those who came into the office, because the Boss never saw them and quite frankly, it was easy to “forget” them. Companies were so afraid that people working from home would spend time on “other things”, that some companies set up the work computers so they would tell the “Boss” if the person stepped away from the computer for more than a preprogrammed allowable time. While a few industries continued to promote it, most companies preferred their employees to come to a central office or workplace instead. Now, after 2 years of people working from home, or working“hybrid” with some days in the office and typically more days at home due to covid restrictions, working from home (or “off site”)has become the “norm” in many industries.  

Some people do well with working from home, others don’t. When one works from home, it’s easy to become distracted due to other family members also working/or going to school classes from home. Or the dog needs a quick walk. Perhaps dinner needs to be started or the laundry. But working at an office has its own challenges, with conversations with colleagues filling the day instead of actual work. With visits to the office kitchen/coffee pot (often really just times to get up and stretch one’s legs and move around a bit). With getting sidetracked helping a colleague with an issue they are working on, instead of what the person is supposed to be doing, or playing office politics. 

Not all industries can work from home. Restaurants, shops, service personnel need to be present to do their job and it would certainly be hard for the plumber to fix the sewer that’s backing up remotely. But others thrive in the “looser” environment, where they can comfortably work from their kitchen table, or a coffee shop near their home. Some people find that they need the synergy and interaction of colleagues around them in order to be productive, while others are discovering that the quiet of an empty house better suits their ability to concentrate.

Through the years, we’ve moved from an agrarian society where the majority of people worked in farming, to an industrial society where people worked in factories and offices to, shall we call it a “tech” society, where all one needs to work is an internet access point and a computer – whether it’s a desktop, a laptop, a tablet or a handheld smart phone that has more computing power in its tiny little frame than my first 4 computers put together had.

At the same time we are going through this “tech” revolution, since COVID we are seeing a “migration” of employees quitting their jobs or retiring. Some are starting new career fields (many in fields where they can work from home), others are simply deciding that they have enough money built up or inherited that they don’t need the hassles of putting up with jobs in the service industry any longer. Where Seniors use to get a “retirement” job in a service industry simply to get out of the house and have a “purpose” in their daily lives, many after 2 years of COVID and the stress of dealing with stressed out people, are opting to stay home and take up hobbies instead, while others are taking care of grandchildren who can’t go to “in-person” school due to covid and need someone to watch over them and help them manage ZOOM school. 

The impact of this “revolution is yet to be realized, but there will be an extensive impact. If people are working from home, companies don’t need as much office space, so office buildings will become empty. Empty office buildings don’t need furniture, as many utilities or services.  

Open floor plan homes don’t lend themselves to Dad doing business in one corner of the living room, while Mom’s in the dining room area and the kids are home schooling in the family room, because without walls, the noise of each travels and interferes with the others, so people are starting to reconsider open floor plan homes and more to homes with more walls for privacy. At the same time, if they don’t have to go into the office and can work from anywhere they can get an internet connection, why should people work close to the office? Why not work from sunny warm Florida instead, which is one of the reasons why Florida’s home market (for both rentals and sales) is growing faster than much of the rest of the nation at the moment. 

Not going to the office, also translates to not needing the same type of wardrobe. On a ZOOM call, it’s a lot harder to tell that someone is wearing the same clothes they had on yesterday, or is wearing “comfy pants” rather than dress pants. Not going to the office – why put on as much makeup or do your nails? 

Then there are the auxiliary services – If people aren’t going to offices, the shops and restaurants around the offices that catered to people grabbing lunch and after work happy hours or quick errands on a lunch break don’t have enough business to stay open.

When everything is being done online, the need to have printed copies of documents vs storing an electronic file in a cloud occurs, so the paper industry starts to feel the pinch, as do the makers of pencils and pens.  

How much parking is needed if people aren’t driving to work and parking in paid garages and lots close to their offices? How much mass transit is needed to get people to their jobs?  

The cogs of the wheel are starting to turn. Where they will end up is anyone’s guess. But I am reminded of when desk top computers first came out and companies started to install them in the offices. It wasn’t long before a computer ona mid-level managers desk, meant that the administrative person or secretary who handled that managers paperwork was no longer needed, since with the computer, "the manager was capable of handling it themselves”. Now only top executives have administrative assistants or secretaries. 

We are on the cusp of another “revolution”. The offices of 2010’s are now as obsolete as the agrarian societies of old, the factories of the early 1900’s, and the offices of the 50’s. We can only wait to see what will end up replacing them once the world has established a “new normal” after COVID is corralled. 

Dale Weir

Photo by JP Lockwood on Unsplash