It’s no secret that the pandemic has changed the way we work in the here and now, but a growing number of experts who have been monitoring the trends and changes expect that many of them will remain with us long after the pandemic is finally behind us. If the experts are correct, here are a few permanent differences you can expect to see on the workplace landscape:
Remote Work Is Likely Here To Stay
One of the first and most visible changes to occur on the heels of the pandemic was the fact that millions of employees began working from home, which required corporate IT departments around the world to scramble and adapt to the new reality.
Now that companies have adapted to the new paradigm, often building wholly new, robust structures to accommodate working from home, it doesn’t ‘make much sense to tear those structures down. Many managers (48%) expect to see a permanent increase in the number of remote workers on their teams in 2021, and 37% of US employees say that they want more work from home opportunities in the years ahead.
The New Preference For Remote Work Will Impact Hiring
Given the above, you can expect that remote work options will be much more prominently featured in job descriptions and much more openly discussed during job interviews. If you want to attract and keep the best talent, you’re almost certainly going to have to at least offer the opportunity to work from home at least part of the time.
Expect New Regulations
The shift from office work to home work is also bound to bring about some new regulations. In fact, in Europe, the process has already begun and even as you read these words, new regulations are being drawn up to ensure that employers fairly compensate their remote workers for computer equipment and internet access, which in many work from home situations, are provided by the employee.
Given that the process has already begun in Europe, it’s just a matter of time before US politicians also head down that road, and savvy managers aren’t waiting. They’re building such considerations into their evolving remote work policies, which will give them a powerful strategic advantage when those new regulations inevitably materialize.
Your IT Staff Will Face New Challenges
Corporate IT staffs have worked miracles during the pandemic, deploying new network architecture and updating corporate security protocols to ensure that remote workers are nearly as safe and secure as employees working from the office.
While it’s true that a lot of important work has already been done on this front, if the reality meets the expectation and remote work becomes the new normal, then corporate IT departments still have quite a lot of work ahead of them. The good news is that if their efforts so far are a good guide, they’ve proven themselves to be more than up to the challenges that lie ahead.
The bottom line is that that the pandemic has ushered in a new era of tremendous change in the workplace, making it an exciting, dynamic time indeed. You can expect that many of the recent changes will wind up being permanent, and the ramifications of those changes will echo through the workplace for years to come. If you’re interested in learning more about what might lie ahead, check out this article.