Tech
Is The Golden Age Of Remote Work Over?
Finding fully remote work is getting challenging. New research from Indeed found that job postings are declining faster in metropolitan areas where many jobs can be done remotely.
“Some of the pushback remote work is driven by concerns about productivity,” said Kory Kantenga, senior economist at LinkedIn. “There have been some experimental studies that show that there are some productivity impacts, potentially from remote work. But those studies are also experiments, right? It’s unclear how they apply to the broader labor force.”
During the pandemic, remote work became the darling of the corporate world, and companies going fully remote became the new normal. The U.S. Census Bureau found that the number of people working primarily from home tripled from 2019 to 2021.
“Remote work was thrust upon us basically by the pandemic,” said Nicholas Bloom, professor of economics at Stanford University. “Before the pandemic, remote work was pretty rare. All managers and professionals were basically fully remote for much of 2020. And then it turned out it’s worked really well.”
As the world began to open up, though, corporate America shifted its stance on remote work. Some companies have even threatened to fire workers who don’t return to the office for a certain number of days.
“The laptop class is living in la la land,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk told CNBC’s David Faber in a sit-down interview in May 2023. “It’s messed up to assume they have to go to work, but you don’t. It’s not just a productivity issue. It’s morally wrong.”
Watch the video above to learn why corporate America is pushing against remote work, how remote workers feel about the pushback, and what this workplace trend tells us about the U.S. job market.
Chapters:
0:00 – Intro
2:01 – Remote work and pandemic
2:53 – Remote work and productivity
5:21 – Return to office
7:02 – The real estate problem
9:37 – What’s next?
Produced and Edited by: Anuz Thapa
Animation: Alex Wood
Narration by: Jordan Smith
Supervising Producer: Jeff Morganteen
Additional Footage: Getty Images
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Is The Golden Age Of Remote Work Over?
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@n.e.g.u.s
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
I cant be the only person outraged that people were forced to work from home or not at all and then on top of that being told to switch back after years of it actually working for employees. The working class has reached their breaking point or one would surely hope.
@usasupra23
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
They forgot to mention how managers abuse it by forcing to come into office when NOT needed. That’s also highly abused and overlooked.
The WFH is truly a case by case so there’s no clear answer.
But please take not on how some managers abuse and force to come to office like it’s 1955!!!!
@fosterandnava
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
I think people should stop being lazy and just go back to work. Most people don’t have the luxury of working from home. But hey my job is categorized as an “Essential Worker” so maybe I’m just bitter lol
@mateofernando5066
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
This is all about control and has nothing to do with productivity. Employers don't trust their employees. However, most companies still need to rationalize why the own or are still leasing underutilitzed office space. So, if they don't force the employees back to the office, the shareholders will question why a company has office rent / leasing costs?
@Rebecca0010
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
It really shouldn’t be. There are so many people who want skilled remote work. People with disabilities, people who live in remote areas and now people moving out of cities as well. It’s time to get with how much it’s necessary to make the change to remote or see people fight over it.
@MobfiaEnt
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
Any good remote jobs I can get into under a year recommendations ? 😅
@MartinAston00
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
Glad they touched on the Real Estate aspect, which is huge in multiple financial directions. So many office buildings would be ghosted for years or demolished if not repurposed. Scaring the Billionaires😂
@giliamjohanwinckler4924
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
No. No, no, no… Is there anyone here who sees the long-term and large scale issue this is bound to create? I offer but one fact – people are social creatures, and letting them choose to put themselves in holes (so to speak), albeit grandiose or somewhere rural or whatever in between, has but one result. This result leads to several other psychological issues too. So, a concerned and well-meant "dislike" from me, simply because of this.
@pj6857
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
Remote work should have ended two years ago, now we have to deal with couch losers who think it’s good to work from home. Grow up people, work isn’t done from home
@garthhonhart8270
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
Folks that proposed, championed, and signed off on HUGE real estate investments, leases, and the stuff inside those buildings are the ones trying to save face here. Just get over it. It's a sunk cost that's not coming back. Knowledge workers like the fact that they don't have to spend hours going between home and an empty office.
@AbdulRazak-de2lf
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
Yea if your work with internet and computer, remote work still releven. If your work in constrution, farming and other work, there is no meaning remote work 😂.
@PeoplesChoiceofficial
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
yeah because the sellers or blue collar or any service people can work from home LOL
@tabishonen
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
Hybrid model upon each worker’s (especially mgr and above) discretion is the best
@SSD5430
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
This is government running the show from backend. They don't want the cities to die
@YouB3anz
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
dimples for days
@thegenevasays
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
When he said let’s pause here do you know notice something I said hmm they’re all middle aged white men? But that wasn’t the thing he said
@alyssiagonzalez
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
I don't think remote work is done.I think more people are looking for remote now more than ever before cause you know what's possible and traffic sucks.
@josephford2211
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
These companies have simply invested too much money in their respective office buildings and see this bringing people back into the office as a way of at least using the buildings for what they intended instead of paying for an empty husk to occupy the space.
@bajay665544
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
Companies need to think about carbon footprint. An employee commuting to office definitely makes use of transport which will cause pollution. If they would like to be a part of net zero goals, think about a win-win situation where both the Employee and the management is satisfied. I strongly believe that even if companies don’t mandate, some of them will be willing to go to office!
@hfddsds4901
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
yeah you can work at home, but not american home but indian home??
@ForgingMyWins
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
Just sounds to me that office space is useless and no longer want it to be useless 😮
@fartgod6983
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
7:10explains everything
@owenh.2265
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
CNBC is pushing the end of remote work because it hurts commercial real estate values and thus the elite. Working from home saves regular people time and money.
@chasemoray425
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
People are more productive and creative when surrounded by others in an in person work environment. End of story.
@paran0ia7
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
As desperately as many companies wish otherwise, the golden age of remote work has barely begun. Working where you want AND living where you want is just too appealing, especially when it barely (if at all) affects the work itself; and being forced to pick one or the other merely to justify the existence of a dedicated office is a game many people are done playing. Additionally, the implosion of commercial real-estate I would argue is among the BEST side-effects, as it really lays bare just how much of our cities' precious space is currently being wasted.
@MrBrad898540
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
The people in this video arguing against remote working can't get over themselves. That's the real issue. The era of the boss as demigod feels threatened because the employee is no longer one of their minions who can be controlled and thrown into the everyday drama of the workplace, and now has the opportunity to function independently. This video is not only ridiculous, it reeks of insecurity, paranoia, and fear. Loss of control means a threat to personal ego and pride. Remote work is the future. Get over yourselves!
@nevm7469
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
it needs to end, it was a temporary pandemic era necessity that no longer is and should be treated as such. it’s horrible for the economy, it’s horrible for productivity, it’s a detriment to new and junior employees and it’s not fair to the vast majority of workers who don’t have the option but are negatively impacted by the effects of it anyways. as a founder im actually a much bigger fan of the 4 day work week than i am remote or even hybrid work. i would rather see us shift to a 4 day in-office work week than continue down the road of the failed wfh experiment. my company certainly doesn’t allow remote work anymore and we found that out of the 40% of employees who initially threatened to quit over a full return to a normal in-office schedule only 4% actually did and it’s been a year now. if all companies would just follow suit it would make rto adherence very simple.
@cosmiccatzen
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
Concerns about productivity = sociopath, control freak , out of touch CEOs wanting to control people like serfs. It’s just robber barons who feel like the little people are getting too much freedom. Don’t go back into those offices, start your own company.
@SigFigNewton
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
Part of what has changed the discussion around remote work is the current pain in the commercial real estate market. A lot of wealthy individuals and institutions are now trying to convince everyone that remote work is bad because they don’t want their asset to depreciate.
@nazarm6215
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
follow the money and you'll understand why they are forcing RTO–these companies are heavily invested into CRE. they either have loans or stipulations with local government for jobs created as tax cuts for those orgs.
@zimcoder
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
CEO'S generally don't care about their employees, they care about control and profit. I work as a software developer and I don't get the obsession of getting us to sit for hours in traffic only to come in and sit in front of a computer.. Elon Musk has stated many time ls over, he would rather have his employees work 80hrs a week and sleep in the office like him.
@ososdechengdu
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
Let's all go back into the office so that real estate companies don't lose too much money.
@LAA2198
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
How about Europe? My European partners get to have mandatory extended vacation.
@BeeGirl316
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
You’re comparing opinions not only over time, but of different people. Find a positive statement from Elon from 2020 and come back to talk to me.
@alessandrameows
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
Nice try corporate America
@Matrix803
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
I work remotely two days a week as a web developer, and it is fantastic when I get to.
One day while I was commuting home from the office, I saw a car literally flipped upside down partially off the road, and someone was crushed underneath it, possibly dead. It was the most insane thing I've ever seen, and it made me think I really should be working remotely 5 days a week, not just two.
I actually find it's more distracting when I'm in the office and I'm less productive. Just the other day I was in-office, and my manager had a call with someone on speakerphone, and the shrill tone of the audio coming from his phone carried right into my office, even with my door shut, so I couldn't concentrate. I was also coming down with a cold that day, so I left the office early and told him I would continue working remotely that day. Well, when I got home, I got much more work done than I did in the office.
The other problem with in-office work is safety. Our doors are unlocked and open all the time, because since the building I work in is a small commercial building built in 1990, delivery workers need to drop off the packages inside the office. But it also means I've had random people walk in from the street for any variety of reasons, and that would break my concentration with my coding. Once the person would leave, it would then take me extra time to pick up where I left off. On top of that, oftentimes I'm working in the office by myself with nobody else around at night. So, imagine a person wandering in from the dark, and I have nobody there to handle the situation with me.
Some jobs obviously cannot be remote, such as car mechanics, bus drivers, surgeons, restaurant waiters and waitresses, fire fighters, etc. But if you have a job that entails sitting in front of a computer all day with internet access, then you really don't need an office for that.
@cia5649
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
seems more like a US problem since most other countries prefer a mixed model of 2-3 days remote and the rest remote or simply remote but meetings with clients/team members or management in office
@kinganzu
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
People dont realise if you push for remote work, these heartless corporations will fire you and outsource your job to a remote worker in another country. Remote work is going to cause a lot of people to price themselves out if the job market.
@Zones33
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
I hate remote work. To be productive I need to be somewhere that’s not my room so I don’t get distracted
@thetranspersonalalchemist
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
We are burned out and we need to be allowed to be human! What is so hard to understand? These greedy billionaire’s expect us all to dedicate all of our life force energy to them becoming rich, meanwhile we are struggling to get our basic needs met. Why do you think productivity is down?! Many people are working multiple jobs just to survive. Over. It.
@danrussell_official
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
lol remote is here to stay. It’s a no brainer net positive for every party involved
@mathewomolo
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
bosses miss the satisfaction of looking at you sitted there, tired from your commute, making them money.
@dmitrykim3096
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
Hybrid is ideal
@dmitrykim3096
December 17, 2023 at 9:49 pm
Who cares about commercial real estate