The share of “knowledge workers” who will continue to work at home after the pandemic is likely to double from before the pandemic, according to a new study from the Gartner management-consulting firm. If that can be scaled up to all workers, that means the share of people working at home is likely to go from about 6 percent in 2019 to 12 percent in 2022.
Home office photo by Jeremy Levine.
I suspect it will be even more. So-called knowledge workers were already more likely to work at home than people in other professions, and I suspect the telecommute shares of some of those other professions are likely to grow more. Another recent survey, for example, found that a full 25 percent of New Jersey workers are likely to continue working at home after 2021.
We are already starting to get the predictable push-back against remote work. A paper in Harvard Business Review claims there are mental health benefits from commuting to work. “Pre-Covid, our commutes were a part of our daily rituals, and rituals have been a natural human behavior since the beginning of time,” says the article. An increase in violent crime during the pandemic, the article hints, may be due to people not getting the ritual benefits of commuting.
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Besides, it’s easily possible to develop “rituals” that allow people working at home to transition from home to work. During the more than 25 years I’ve worked at home, I’ve walked my dog every morning, then go to my office and work. When I’m done working, I walk my dog again and then go home. The fact that my office is at one end of my house doesn’t matter because I separate home from work with dog walks. Other people will invent their own rituals, though it might be important to live in a home big enough to have a room dedicated as an office (which is one reason why real estate sales have increased).
As the pandemic ends, some managers may be looking for excuses to require workers to return to offices and other work sites. Gartner, the group that did the study predicting that knowledge telecommuters would double, has prepared a booklet responding to various “myths” about people working at home, such as that face-to-face contact is needed or employees who work at home are less productive.
“Cultural values are changing,” says the booklet. “Collaboration, agility and trust are increasingly important cultural values in resilient organizations and don’t relate to physical location.” Two results of this will be major shifts in urban transportation and housing priorities, shifts that aren’t being accounted for in Congressional and White House debates over infrastructure and transportation.
I believe that the phrase “working from home” is a simplification of what will be happening over the next few years.
Initially many people currently “working from home” will continue to do so but over time I think we will see small satellite offices with small numbers of workers. Real offices in real office buildings located near to or far from the main office.
It’s not all-or-none.
Another option working at home is having a garden office shed. It seems there is now an industry staring to cater to this. For example Googling “garden office shed insulated” resulted in many options here are just a few:
https://www.mysheds.com/outdoor-retreats/home-offices
https://yardpods.com/
https://shedsunlimited.net/blog/backyard-office-sheds
This provided the physical distancing between work and home and doesn’t use a room in the house. I know someone who has finished what was going to be a rental house with a garden office fully finished with sheetrock and power, etc. The office space is very pleasant to work in with a great view of the garden. Of course, to use a space like this requires a garden, so this option lends itself to suburban homes.
A company I worked for tried work-at-home options some 20 years ago. I had a few of my subordinates try it and it worked for one or two. The other one or two couldn’t get used to it, with one of them saying that he/she needed time away from his/her spouse.
I totally agree: “Collaboration, agility and trust are increasingly important cultural values in resilient organizations and don’t relate to physical location.” I had no problems managing work-at-home workers’ performance.
I had zero problems managing them.
In our office it was normal for workers to disappear to home when they needed to concentrate on an important project.
Related: Our sales force was distributed throughout the country. Having a “home office” was standard — as was keeping inventory in their “home warehouse”, commonly known as their garage.
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) serves as the Congestion Management Agency (CMA) for Santa Clara County and maintains the county’s Congestion Management Program (CMP), in accordance with California Statute, Government Code 65088. The intent of the Congestion Management Program legislation is to develop a comprehensive transportation improvement program among local jurisdictions that will reduce traffic congestion and improve land use decision-making and air quality.
The only good thing about COVID is that it solved the Bay Area’s legendary traffic congestion as people shifted to working from home. You would think that an agency that is supposed to reduce congestion would do everything possible to encourage remote work after the COVID scare is over.
On February 6, 2020, the VTA board passed resolution 2020.02.04 (attached), declaring a “climate emergency.” “Resolved” paragraph 2 of that resolution reads “VTA staff will evaluate administrative procedures to incorporate the consideration of climate change impacts for all relevant proposed policies, programs, or actions approved by the Board of Directors.” Shortly thereafter, employees were requested to take action to fight global warming in a staff meeting.
There is now a push to have VTA staff return to the office, which contradicts the Board’s climate emergency resolution, Government Code 65088, and the instructions given to staff. Is the climate emergency over? Why force office workers to contribute to the region’s traffic congestion when alternatives like telework are available? Were climate change impacts considered when drafting this policy, as required by the resolution and Government Code 65088? Why is VTA not encouraging remote work wherever feasible?
If VTA management wants staff to fight global warming, they should encourage staff to work from home whenever possible to reduce carbon emissions.
From Stratechery.com
https://stratechery.com/2021/pandemic-progress/
We’ll see but I’m hopeful.
”
If VTA management wants staff to fight global warming, they should encourage staff to work from home whenever possible to reduce carbon emissions.
” ~Hugh Jordan
And if they don’t…. could it be a sign that VTA’s existence is really just about getting money, feeding the organization which means doing nothing more than what the politicians who give them 95% of their $$$$$ want?