Lessons from the 2020 pandemic

In the middle of the 2020 pandemic, we can look around and see that many companies have shifted from "work in the office" to "work from home". (Many companies, especially retail, restaurants, movie theaters, and entertainment venues, have closed completely, with no ability to work from home.)

For those companies that have made the change, we can look and wonder why they did not make this change earlier. While some companies offered limited "work from home" opportunities (and many companies offered nothing), the pandemic has forced companies to change. Why the sudden change?

Some observations:

Shifting from "work in the office" to "work from home" is possible when the infrastructure is present. The automation of work, starting with PC-based word processors (in the 1980s) and continuing with networks (in the 1990s) and then connected networks and high-speed internet in the home (in the 2000s) all allow remote work to occur. But even with the infrastructure in place, office culture held that face-to-face interactions and work in the office was better than work from home.

Allowing your entire employee base (or a large percentage of it) is easy when a government order closes your office and forbids employees from working in it. Some work, even the small amount that gets done when working from home, is better than none.

Allowing your workforce to work from home is also easy when all other companies -- especially your competition -- are allowing their employees to work from home. Being "part of the crowd" reduces the risk (or the perceived risk) of such a change. With all companies making the change, the risk reverses: the oddball is not the company that shifts to "work from home" but the company that remains in the office.

Changing from "work in the office" to "work from home" is also easy when all of your employees make the change, instead of a few chosen workers. The typical approach to change (small pilot programs with a few employees) sets up the dynamics of "chosen" and "not chosen" employees, which can create resentment among the "not chosen" employees. When all employees shift to "work from home" it is clear that there is no favoritism and that "work from home" is not a reward for good behavior.


The change from "work in the office" to "work from home" did happen, for many companies, quickly and easily. Much of that ease of change was from the risks, or rather the change in the risk profile. The technology was in place, other companies were making the same change, all employees (or as many as practical) were involved, and the government was issuing orders that made "work in the office" impossible.

Looking forward, will companies shift back to "work in the office"? I suspect that the office culture of face-to-face interactions still holds, so that will pull managers towards a "work in the office" arrangement. In the other direction, no company wants to be first, especially when the risk of COVID-19 is still present. The decision to shift from "work from home" to "work in the office" will not be an easy one.