Post Pandemic Remote Work – Does It Have Staying Power?
Remote work has always been the ever elusive dream of many workers. If only we could work from home; we would reduce fossil fuel emissions, buy less clothing and eat fast food less. We would be so much healthier as we could schedule workouts more frequently, we could even move to less affordable cities and finally break free of urban dependance. If only some event would encourage or force employers to rethink the office work structure, imagine how efficient and happier we would be.
This also left another population of people in limbo, our children. As schools hastily shut down because of the spread of COVID-19, our children quickly had to adapt to learning at home, with or without their parents. Many parents (who were quick on their feet), enrolled their children in online schools, where other brave souls took on teaching their children, all while juggling their essential or non-essential work schedules.
With the Covid-19 virus those dreams were realized in a moments notice. Not quite as some of us hoped for, but it’s here. Not quite in the ‘work from home for $4000/month’ kind of way, but it’s here (by the way, where did all of those jobs go during the pandemic?!). For those who were fortunate enough to be employed during the pandemic the workforce was quickly divided into two categories. Essential and non-essential; most essential workers were in the food service industries, retail and medical fields. Leaving them in customer facing roles which were unchanged from pre-pandemic days, only adding a mask.
Many of these essential workers already had a difficult time attending to the many responsibilities of making sure their children were learning all they could in school. It’s not that they didn’t care (obviously), but rather, they had an impossible time creating an imaginary twelve additional ours in the day to support their children. This lead many students to becoming independent learners, even at the wee ages of 5 years old. Many of our older students opted for remote learning to work full-time during the day to help provide for their family. There were so many changes in what school looked like for our students, and what work looked like for our essential workers.
A stark contrast from what the essential workers experienced; non-essential workers were allowed to work remotely and experience that remote work dream many wished for. Some of these workers were able to transform their lives, in a pandemic no less. Cities like Boise, ID, Bend, OR and Salt Lake City, UT have ascended into the fastest growing cities in the nation due to remote work being made permanent by certain employers such as Twitter, Dropbox and Salesforce to name a few. Others have adopted a remote hybrid model that allows one or two in office days per week. Each of these models have enabled these workers to move out of larger cities like Seattle and Los Angeles; two cities that are contributing to the influx of migrants to Boise and Salt Lake.
As workers moved from city to city to find their dream remote work, another group of remote workers were trying to find a quiet space in their homes to complete their conference calls, reports and other responsibilities while attending to their child’s learning. Many workers began to experience work fatigue due to the inconsistencies of separation between home life and work life. The thought of working from home soon became a nightmare instead of the perceived dream that it could be for parents working remotely.
These changes in workplace practices, however noteworthy, have not significantly impacted the pandemic and post pandemic workforce. Pre-pandemic remote only jobs accounted for about 2% of all new office jobs and now it’s about 6-7%. Not a large enough increase to justify a migration from one city to the next. California, for example, did not see the mass exodus of employers during the pandemic. Instead, many have moved to neighboring cities that are still within the confines of California. Those that have chosen to move have done so at a similar pre-pandemic exit rates; the only difference being the cities that are being chosen as a destination. Denver and Seattle are still destination spots, but at decreased rates. So where do we stand?
In large part, the shift in remote-work opportunities were a dream realized by a very small group. With Covid-19 cases spiking up recently due to the Delta variant, it has resuscitated life back into the remote work program, albeit temporarily. We saw a drastic shift in what work looked like for workers, and how students were caught in the middle of the chaos, trying to find their way to education, alone. The long term outlook for migrants looking to reap the benefits of living in a more affordable location is not as robust as before, especially with vaccines opening up many offices once again. If anything, the pandemic fueled already ignited desires that people hoped for. As for our students, they are completely drained from any remote learning and are yearning for the consistency that school always brings them.
With daily reports of death rates and new cases, it prompted many to reassess their priorities and preferences. For some I suspect that they may regret making a move as the income won’t follow them to their new homes. Others, will find greater value in road less traveled. If numbers hold, it looks like it’s here to stay…well…for 4-5% of the dreamers that is. As for our students caught in the middle of the shift of workers, hopefully this new year brings some type of stability that allows for real learning to happen, preferably with an actual teacher! Whether it’s the shift in remote working or schooling there will certainly be long-term consequences that we may not be able to realize until later in the future. The connection between the remote workers and students has one thing in common, and that is the need for consistency. Hopefully, this year will give us some type of normalcy.