Thread by @chris_herd

Let me make 1 thing clear, and I cannot stress this enough:

Any company that forces everyone back to the office full-time will not make it through this decade

Office work & culture extracted a massive toll on quality of life as commutes elongated, time in the office extended, and time for the things and people we care about most dropped

Remote work is not about the future of work

Remote work is a bridge to a higher quality of life

What people need after a global pandemic isn't an office

People need human contact but is that from colleagues or do you want to hug your parents?

Is that in meetings or do you want to eat dinner with friends?

Is that at the water cooler or travelling and seeing the world?

Is that sat on a train commuting for two hours or cycling up a hill?

All these commercial real estate bag holders suggesting otherwise are only concerned about the effect will have on their wallets

Governments included

90% of workers never want to work in an office again full-time

46% want to work remotely often or all of the time

Cut the equitable bullshit suggesting this is anywhere near 50/50. The vast majority of people want the flexibility to choose where they work – that's remote

This isn't even a divisive topic

The statistics and data are so clear it should be bewildering to see the reaction of certain individual inside certain institutions

Except that it isn't and it never is

Consistently we get it wrong

Innovation shocks us into paralysis and those at the centre benefitting unequally from the status quo rage against progress, prosperity and innovation

Remote work grew 400% decade over decade between 2008 and 2018. By 2018 there were over 8,000,000 remote workers in the USA alone

Does that sounds like some fringe movement?

venturebeat.com/2019/07/06/dis…

The murmurs begin

"Oh but a large proportion of people will go back to the office" – and those who support innovation are typically the first to listen

The reality? The genie never goes back in the bottle

It never does.
It never has.
It never will.

The most obvious comparison? eCommerce

1. nobody will buy anything online
2. some people will buy some things online
3. most people will buy some things online
4. most people will buy most things online

We're at stage 4 today, but as recently as 10yrs ago we were at stage 2

We are at stage 2 with respect to remote work today

1. nobody will work remotely any of the time
2. some people will work remotely sometimes
3. most people will work remotely sometimes
4. most people will work remotely most of the time

There will always be luddites who ache for the office in the same way that there will always be those who want to buy everything in store

Stores still exist but they do so as experiences to augments online shopping

The same thing will happen with remote work

The internet appears yet some people continue with their newspapers. Eventually the internet enables a new way of living

The smart phone appears yet some people persist with their flip phones. Eventually smart phones enables a new way of living

As goes remote

I missed my daughter walking, talking, and laughing for the first time due to working away and the office

Many people share similar experiences yet nobody questions the underlying symptoms

90% of people never want to go back to an office full-time having experienced only a few of the benefits of remote work

These are the most difficult condition imaginable

Homeschool, lockdown, A GLOBAL PANDEMIC!

If you love remote work now you will love it post-covid

If you like it now, you will love it post-Covid

If you hate it now, wait till you get time with family & friends, can work from a coworking space, or travel again

Do you honestly think the 90% of people who who want to work remotely – at least part-time – post-Covid reduces with time?

Or do you think people realize the massive intangible benefits of remote and the number increases?

90% of people wanting remote work at least part time is the base figure

46% of people wanting remote work most or all the time is the base figure

The number of people who want remote work only grows from here

People decentralize

They realize that they don't need to be in an office 2-3 days a week actually, it's once a week.

Then It's once every 2 weeks. Then once a month. Then once a quarter.

And that is what force change

People want remote work
People will optimize for remote work

The remote work dilemma is obvious

Any company not as remote as their biggest competitor loses their most talented people to them – while simultaneously becoming less cost efficient

Office companies become less talented, have a smaller talent pool, retention plummets and their costs continue to grow. Office space per person eating into profits

The consequence of all this making them economically uncompetitive

Already you see some countries begin to consider that workers have the right to work remotely where they can

Quickly, regions will deploy it as a strategy to attract talent (looking at you @FrancisSuarez)

Economic development agencies will wield their countries benefits to attract remote talent

"our school are incredible"
"we have the best beaches in the world"
"free lift passes for every skiier working remotely"

This is just the start

An arms race of economic incentives will explode

That's inside companies as much as it is inside countries

Some companies and countries will refuse and perish

You see this already with cities embracing remote and see it in countries married to the office

Idiotic politicians will ignore the ghost towns commuting towns become during the week in favour of business districts inside cities that become ghost towns at weekends and evenings

"but what about the jobs around the office economy" said unironically by people with no fundamental grasp of reality

The people most likely to be commuting for hours a day? people who work around the office economy

remote workers still buy coffee, potentially a lot more

only they will buy it locally rather than having to commute for hours a day

"but what about younger people working in shared apartments in big cities"

Is that an issue with remote work or an implication of expensive cities and needing to live close enough to commute daily?

Remote work does not mean work from home, it means work from anywhere

"human are social creatures – we need human connection"

We do. 100%

Should the office be the anchor of social life?
Should the people we spend most time with be chosen by our employers?
Should our deepest bond our employers success where if that changes relationships end?

Remote work can be more social

Spend more time with your friends, and family. Live where you can pursue your hobbies and passions with people who share similar interest

That's not just a better future of work

I don't hate the office, I simply believe it is a tax on our quality of life that we should no longer be willing to pay