Future of Work, Will Remote Last?
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Something that has been brought to the forefront of the workforce over the course of the global pandemic has been the rise of remote work. Of course many jobs exist that can not be done remotely. A carpenter can not build a house remotely or a chef prepare a meal remotely but with the need for social distancing it has proven that many jobs, including ones not in the software industry, can be done remotely. In fact in a recent survey it was found that 42% of the work force is working from home.
The creation of the internet has made remote work fully possible as the ability to connect with others and work in a “cloud” environment has never been easier. Therefore remote work was around even before the pandemic but the pandemic has accelerated it dramatically and probably changed the way humans work going forward.
Why Remote Work is Good
Remote work is beneficial for the global economy as a whole and I will outline why. To reiterate my point above I certainly do not think that remote work is beneficial in every industry or even possible in every industry.
- Remote work removes the inefficiency of matching skills with employers
In a normal world we are limited by location. Companies usually have headquarters then other subsidiary locations. In order to work for this company you must move to one of the locations that they are located. Therefore you are limiting your talent pool to everyone in that city and everyone willing to move to that city.
On the prospective employees side one is limited to the city they live in or anywhere they are willing to move. This dramatically decreases their options.
In basic economic theory a market thrives on efficiency meaning that the most optimized matches are made and the market is Pareto Efficient, no change can be without making someone worse off. This career market outlined above is far from being Pareto Efficient. There are numerous…
