In this video, I want to discuss the future of remote work and why I think it will stay.
Right now, we’re seeing more and more people choosing flexibility and work life balance over climbing the corporate ladder. It’s estimated that 70% of large companies are working hybrid coming in 2-3 days a week. We’re seeing this battle right now between employers and employees and in my opinion, employers need to be scared because there’s multiple ramifications for increased remote work.
There’s a few reasons employers want people back in the office.
One, managers claim remote workers are harder to manage and a lot of bosses say individuals at home are less productive. Companies have put lot of stress on collaboration and teamwork even though employees may come in on different days and different cities. Let me know if you’re seeing this. Employers don’t seem to take into account that we’ve seen employees work from home successfully.
Financially speaking, a lot of companies have huge offices and banks, and financial institutions want to keep the cash flow coming from there commercial real estate properties. Companies don’t want to see their building values plummet. If buildings start emptying out were going to see commercial real estate value plummet and many businesses not renew or refinance their lease when it expires. To make matters worse, interest rates are up, and the cost of debt payments will be higher.
Empty offices are also going to create a spillover affect where other businesses are going to go under. For example, a coffee shop in the city with no workers around could go out businesses, and this is going to increase delinquencies on business loans.
In my opinion, employees have lots of solid reasons for demanding remote work.
First, it saves on commute time, gives work life balance and allows them to work longer hours.
Another reason is offshoring. It’s estimated that 2/3 of mid cap companies offshore workers. Now this number might be low, I’ve seen percentages in the 90s. This number seems to be increasing.
Maybe the most important reason and one employers really need to think about it is productivity. Remote work emphasizes productivity over time in the office.
Now, I believe that the transition to remote is going to continue for a few reasons.
One is that companies are going to begin ditching city office buildings. It needs to make sense for them financially and we’re already beginning to see this happen. Remember too, A lot of businesses won’t sell into a declining market and Commercial is dependent on the city or area too.
Now, I think a lot of white-collar jobs are going to be shipped overseas, not just IT and call center jobs but a lot of jobs that don’t require in person. This is going to lower labor costs.
Remote jobs are also better for both employee and employer with employees having more jobs to choose from and employers having a better selection of candidates.
But what do you think? Will remote work continue?
