What COVID-19 means for the future of work

Originally published by Portland Business Journal

Adopters of fully remote work say the days when proximity meant efficiency are gone. What do Covid-19 quarantines mean for the future workplace?

By Shelly Strom, Contributor, Portland Business Journal

In the wake of Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s stay-at-home directive in March, Portland’s businesses experienced a mass exodus. Governors all around the country issued similar responses, leading companies to vacate skyscrapers, office parks and other buildings where workers used to do their jobs.

Office operations no longer are driving the lifeblood of cities. It’s not that they’ve stopped humming. Rather, they’ve scattered into thousands of locations — the homes of their workers.

Mostly, these remote work arrangements appear to be enabling organizations to continue to function. With Gov. Brown’s order still in effect, high levels of occupancy in office space aren’t expected to return any time soon.

According to some estimates, up to half of employed adults in the United States are working from home. Locally, 65 percent of companies that responded to a survey from the Technology Association of Oregon recommended their employees work from home because of the virus.

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