Remote working: from mass experiment to the new normal

By Ian Stewart

The pandemic triggered a vast experiment in remote working. Just as the industrial revolution moved workers from the countryside to urban centres, and the automobile era moved residential life to the suburbs, the pandemic has the capacity to remake the nature of work, and where it is done.

There will be improvements. Internet connectivity, hardware and software will keep getting better. Many of the difficulties experienced by parents who need to juggle work and childcare will fade with the permanent reopening of nurseries and schools. Offices will be reconfigured to better facilitate the meetings and interactions which cannot be done remotely. Spending some of the week in the office should reduce the communication gaps, social isolation and monotony that can make remote working taxing.

On the other hand the offer to employees who want to permanently work remotely may change. Will employers be prepared, for instance, to offer London or New York salaries to workers in the Lake District or Maine? Over the last 20 years the transfer of back office, customer service and IT support work to more distant locations, on- and off-shore, has been heavily predicated on securing cost savings. Leaders in remote work, such as Alphabet, Facebook and Twitter, have already announced plans to reduce pay for workers who move to cheaper locations, eroding the incentive to relocate.