Let’s talk through a number of remote work pieces of data that have come out, making for a larger story.
Slack surveyed global knowledge workers – only 12% said they intend to go back to working exclusively from the office. 72% want a combination of office-based and remote work, and 50% said their work-life balance was better because of the shift to remote work.
This matches data from .Tech domains, which says only 20% of US tech workers would return to the office full time once there is a COVID-19 vaccine.
Gartner found back in July that 80% of surveyed company leaders plan to allow employees to work remotely at least partly.
That trend is not just in the US – Transputec’s research shows 44% of UK businesses want to accelerate remote working to reduce costs, and 56% are planning to increase their digital skills training budgets for next year, implying that long term planning.
Also of note is the impact on workers themselves.
83% of millennials living near a major tech hub plan to or are considering a move to a more affordable city since the onset of COVID-19, compared to 73% of Gen X.
Think it’s just Millennials?
Permanent relocation becomes a viable option for two-thirds of technologists if work from home is the norm, according to a Blind survey with 4,400 respondents. The trend holds across the top tech hubs — San Francisco, New York and Seattle.
Rising interest in relocation has been accompanied by an uptick in job posts that allow telecommuting, data from Indeed shows
It’s also hitting skills. Quoting TechNewsWorld:
With the pandemic having forced enterprises to let their staff work from home, the emphasis is shifting to cloud-based solutions, remote tech services and security, Ray Wang, a principal analyst at Constellation Research notes.
“We’re seeing a skillset shift away from hardware and network engineers to software, cloud, and artificial intelligence,” Wang said. “Digital skills are also important.”
I intentionally put a lot together to drive home the point.
Let’s pull this together.
We have data telling us the changes to work will stay in place – not to the full extent, but not a snap back to the “before”.
We have data showing that half of companies are leaning into the changes.
We also have data saying workers are also considering major changes to their living conditions in anticipation of this. If employees are making relocation plans, they anticipate taking advantage of these trends, and more importantly, will not be eager to undo those choices.
Thus the opportunity. Services providers helping customers further enable their teams with technology, training, and process, are going to be taking full advantage of this shift. It’s clear this is permanent.
You can add security risk management to the top of that sundae to have the complete package.
Source: Infosecurity Magazine
Source: Business Insider
Source: Tech News World