Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the work-from-home (WFH) trend has simply exploded this year and shows little sign of slowing down in the months and years ahead.
In fact, with no end in sight for the novel coronavirus, it's estimated that the portion of the US workforce working from home is still hovering around the 30% level eight months into the pandemic, up from just 6% of employees before last March. Although that figure is down from estimates of more than 50% during the height of the pandemic-induced mass lockdowns in the spring, it's still five times higher than before.
Moreover, dozens of major US and international companies have already announced that their employees can work remotely long-term. That ever-growing list includes Google, Facebook, Uber, Twitter, REI, Siemens, Novartis, Otis, VMware and Slack.
A study presented by Kantar Research at Light Reading's Cable Next-Gen Business Services digital symposium earlier this month bears out that point as well. The study found that many companies that either initiated or expanded their difference between computer engineering and computer science policies in the spring don't plan to bring their remote employees back to the formal workplace any time soon. Indeed, more than one third of those companies (37%) reported that they will keep their workers at home even after the pandemic subsides.
Not surprisingly, the results vary greatly by business sector. While more than half (56%) of manufacturers and 46% of retailers indicated they will maintain their increased WFH presence, 32% of services firms and just 17% of entertainment companies said they will do the same.
Nevertheless, the trend is clear across all vertical sectors. In the "new normal" environment that emerges after the pandemic, substantially more people will still be working from home than ever have since the start of the Industrial Revolution two centuries ago.
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