Work remote, get paid less? The battle dividing offices will define the future of work
The world of work was already quite sick before the coronavirus took hold, but the pandemic put rocket boosters on cultural change.
We can see the impact of this in every metric around work: during the Great Resignation of 2021, millions of American workers resigned en masse. Workers worldwide have declared that they would quit their jobs if not provided with flexibility.
The reduction in corporate property rents last year as high as 10%, with huge changes in the use of office space and co-working space. And the city has a new competitor: the suburb. The flight to suburbia during the pandemic has accounted for a rise in the property market for residences outside city centers. For downtown districts to attract and retain people as places to live and work, city centers will need to be redesigned completely.
These developments come as no surprise: the McKinsey Global Institute estimates that up to a quarter of workers in advanced economies will work permanently on a hybrid basis, ie partly from home, several days a week. Discussions about RTO (returning to the office) are increasingly fraught and in flux. There is no uniform model or agreement.
The case for going into an office regularly is having to be made to the workforce – and many are rejecting it. Meanwhile, CEOs have to grapple with employees who want more flexibility, the ability to work remotely and even the ability to choose their working hours – and this without a paycut.
The degree of agency workers will be given – to be able to choose your place and hours of work – might well define us far more than previous classifications in the future. Being labeled a “white-collar” or a “blue-collar” worker could be replaced by being a “hybrid have” or “hybrid have-not” worker
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