Will Working From Home Continue?
It appears that working from home will, in fact, continue in notable ways, even as the country begins to unlock. The National Bureau of Economic Research, a private, nonpartisan organization that facilitates investigation and analysis of major economic issues, has issued a working paper, “Why Working From Home Will Stick” which analyzes the situation.
The NBER found five key factors that indicate working from home (WFH) is here to stay:
better-than-expected WFH experiences,
new investments in physical and human capital that enable WFH,
greatly diminished stigma associated with WFH,
lingering concerns about crowds and contagion risks, and
a pandemic-driven surge in technological innovations that support WFH.
The NBER also found that:
employees will enjoy large benefits from greater remote work, especially those with higher earnings,
the shift to WFH will directly reduce spending in major city centers by at least 5-10 percent relative to the pre-pandemic situation.
WFH should result in a 5 percent productivity boost in the post-pandemic economy due to re-optimized working arrangements, but only one-fifth of this productivity gain will show up in conventional productivity measures, because they do not capture the time savings from less commuting.
These are all key issues employers need to keep in mind as we continue to unlock. To read the entire paper, click here.
