With a Covid-19 vaccine in sight for many people, teams could reasonably be expected to return to the office in the foreseeable future. But a move back to company HQ seems destined to fail if insisted upon too early in the recovery cycle.
It may also just be unnecessary. Firms like Fujitsu and Twitter have already announced plans to make remote work a permanent option, even after the pandemic. Global enterprises are deciding the path that they want to take to avoid staff irritation and confusion down the road.
Long-Term Travel - A Staff Incentive
The collision of technology and our personal desires is opening new avenues that are far flung from old-fashioned ideas about working from home.
With global restrictions almost impossible to predict, short-term travel continues to be difficult. But employees that feel a longer-term escape will benefit their professional focus and overall well-being are finding a new receptivity among progressive employers wanting to give talented individuals the space to find their place in the pandemic world.
Singles and couples that want to escape the same four walls they have inhabited since the beginning of the global lockdown are actively being given the opportunity to do so.
Travel has previously been seen as a potent employment incentive for a global workforce. Now it is a ‘travel-plus-living-in-the-place-you-want-to-work-from-for-a-while’ incentive.
This change has been driven partially by consistent access to the internet. Society already needed a cultural shift away from ‘presentism’ in the office. Although it took a global pandemic to do it, that shake up has happened. With a decent Wi-Fi connection and some initiative, a huge number of people in computer-based roles can get a day’s work done wherever they choose to be.
Working From Anywhere
A survey of 1,123 remote workers by The Times and Morning Consult found that:
- 86% were satisfied working from home
- Only 1 in 5 said they wanted to go back to the office full-time
- 40% said they were taking more walks and breaks
- 33% said they were exercising more
It seems safe to say that WFH works. But for me, the most telling statistic in this report actually related to the new WFA paradigm. One in three people contacted for the survey said they would “move to a new city or state if remote work continued indefinitely.”
In a world which increasingly seems crammed together, the future of business could be just the opposite: A chance to get out.
For further insights, see our full Amplify Travel & Tourism eBook here. To speak to Jamie, contact him via LinkedIn here.
