Workforce 2020

 I was cleaning out a bookcase of business books over the summer of 2020 and came across Workforce 2020. Written in 1997 and published by Hudson Institute, this study was the sequel to Workforce 2000. Thumbing through it, I saw a passage about telecommuting. The authors had some interesting things to say about the topic.

High-speed, reliable telecommunications devices (meaning mobile) open up options, and the rapid advances in telecommunications in the 1980s allowed increasing numbers of Americans work outside a traditional office setting, mostly at home. “Telecommuting,” they said, “is becoming increasingly common.“ They went on to cite predictions by the U.S. Department of Transportation regarding the percentage of the labor force (10%) that will telecommute by 2002. 

It is unlikely the authors of Workforce 2020 could have predicted the lightning speed at which remote work occurred on a large-scale basis in the year 2020 when employees were sent home to work because of the pandemic. 

The study went on to say that telecommuting would become more common and be increasingly attractive to both employees and employers, affording employers the opportunity to decrease real estate costs and increase worker productivity by up to 20 percent.

Fast forward to December 2020 and a holiday letter from a friend. His organization moved to near 100% telework and, to his surprise, it had gone relatively smoothly. He attributed it to many core services moving to the cloud during 2018 and 2019, and having the infrastructure pieces in place to handle the switch. As a manager, and he’s not alone in this sentiment, he had been skeptical of remote work. (So much for increasingly attractive.) However, to his surprise productivity hasn’t lagged and in some areas it increased—as predicted in the study. He enjoys the environment where he can focus near exclusively on the task at hand and doesn’t miss the one-hour commute each way, every day, another point made in the study. Of course, he has a very real concern that lack of in-person professional contact is having a negative effect on his team. 

By now, there is no denying that working, at least for people who work in offices, will not go back to the way it was. Change was thrust upon organizations and many found they were not prepared. Out of the chaos that we’ve experienced comes opportunity. Organizations are finding new ways to work which are efficient and productive. New ideas are emerging and people are learning new skills. As we emerge from the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, hopefully the new normal will embrace accepting change and putting people first. 

Cornelia