Will we ever go back to the office again?
What does the future of the workplace look like?
Before the pandemic, only 3% of American workers regularly worked from home; now almost every knowledge worker on the planet has given it a go.
In an interesting article in The Economist [are you a subscriber?], questions are asked about the future of the workplace.
Will 'the office' still be an important part of work in the future?
![](https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20200912_LDD001_1.jpg)
If, as many speculate, working from home becomes more of a mainstream way in which we engage with our professional lives in the future - this could have some profound implications for many aspects of modern life that we're kind of assumed would just carry on as before.
For example:
- What will happen to office buildings if there is less of a need for them?
- What happens to cities and the secondary ecosystem of coffeeshops, restaurants, delis that service the office worker community?
- How will organisational culture change with individuals and teams working apart from each other?
- What happens to the concept of the 'office romance' and subsequently how will marriages and family life be affected, with family members spending so much more time with each other?
- What will happen to public transport, vehicle sales, levels of pollution with so many people avoiding the daily commute?
- How will remote working affect how business recruits talent (now that you can effectively hire talent from anywhere on the planet)?
- Does this change symbolise the dawn of true globalisation of the knowledge worker?
- How will this affect the future of small towns, that will no doubt see an influx of professionals moving out of the cities - choosing rather a quieter environment to live in?
Now that we have all successfully trialed extended periods of working from home - it's hard to see how we can possibly go back to a reality that this was not a viable option.
This will have an impact on the future of how we utilise and view 'the office' - it role is finally up for a creative re-imagining.