The office landscape has drastically altered, perhaps permanently. While partly due to a global pandemic, the traditional employee lifestyle of long commutes and collaboration limited to conference rooms was already heading toward an evolution.
Technological developments have made it possible to speak to and work with people anywhere in the world at any time, and while most companies had access to all the software needed to make it happen, the cultural acceptance and day-to-day adoption of new processes had not arrived pre-pandemic.
Since knowledge-based workers went remote, experts have argued that Covid-19 forced companies to adopt technology that would have taken decades to fully integrate under other circumstances.
Employee work-life balance has also changed since the pandemic. The workforce assumes more tasks such as digital knowledge sharing, on top of adjusting to effectively living in their offices.
Boston Consulting Group found that 29 percent of 12,000 remote workers’ overall mental health worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic. While we cannot be certain whether the threat of a pandemic, increased responsibilities during remote work, or lack of social interaction is more to blame, companies must provide comprehensive mental health support to employees if they want to protect productivity.