Pre-pandemic, work-from-home was relatively rare.
It was seen as goofing off or as detrimental to teamwork.
The power balance has shifted.
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Are we seeing a turning point in office culture?
“I think that the world has changed.
“The model of distributed work and hiring people anywhere in the world has been happening for a while.
Jodie Cook / Unsplash
This model is still the norm for much of the working world.
In some businesses, theres no way around it.
But for knowledge workers, the last year has proven forced attendance is unnecessary.
According to the BBC, employees are willing to quit rather than return to the office.
This creates a power shift if these folks actually start leaving in significant numbers.
Recently, Applemandated a return to the office.
Employees werent happy and got together to push against the decision.
This has other advantages.
You may not need to pay as much to attract talent from other countries.
“Suppose your company is in a costly location,” says Kote.
Your cost basis is naturally, and artificially, higher because of your limited pool and location.”
This keeps some of the advantages of the officestronger interpersonal relationships, for examplewhile allowing more flexibility.
But this model still requires employees to live near their place of work.
Not For Everyone
Not everyone can quit their job or even wants to work from home.
For others, quitting a job in the middle of a pandemic is a terrifying idea.
In case of future waves of infection or mutations, organizations will be forced to shift back abruptly.”
