In what may be the first in a series of toppling dominos, yesterday Twitter informed their employees that they'll be allowed to continue working from home even when the pandemic subsides. And yes, this appears to be a permanent change. "I do think," Twitter human resources head Jennifer Christie told BuzzFeed, "we won't go back."
At first this doesn't sound like much, but if a majority of companies were to do this, think of how that would affect the economy. The average commuter probably picks up a cup of coffee or a snack on the way in. If they're driving, they'll occasionally stop for gas and maybe buy something else. If taking mass transit, they buy a pass. If bicycling, they pay to maintain a bicycle. They go out for lunch. They take Starbucks breaks. They pick up dry cleaning on the way home.
The person working the morning coffee stand, the gas station clerk, the factory worker at the snack-making company, the bus driver, the bike shop employee, the sandwich joint clerk, the barista, the dry cleaner; all of those people draw wages--as long as there's a need for them. It's a little harder to be sympathetic for commercial real estate tycoons that would suffer from unrented office space, but those people earn money and spend it too, stimulating the economy.
Every economic crisis forces both individuals and companies to cut costs, and often they learn that they can permanently do away with what were previously considered necessities. That's great for them and their budgets, and not so great for the people who provide the once-necessities.
And while whiteboard demand would certainly go down, it appears office supply manufacturers will stick around for a bit. As part of the WFH deal, Twitter says every employee will be given a $1,000 budget for home office supplies.
I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.
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Twitter Says Employees Can Work From Home Permanently
How will tech companies compete for talent without showing off their office interiors? What’s the purpose of the big new Salesforce complex in SFO? The Microsoft campus in Redmond sprawls across half the town, beautiful spaces, atriums, offices...all empty.
Now more people can move to smaller cities, where it's cheaper to have a home with space for a homeoffice.
Working from home means I'm more apt to actually go run errands during the day, actually go buy snacks or food I really want versus rely on the office mess. I'm more able to spend an hour getting a car wash at some point during the day from the local place, versus just ignoring it because the only times I'm driving is before sunrise or after sunset.
An alternative here is "think about the environment". It would be extremely beneficial to reduce the amount of commuting. It could also stimulate other parts of the country, if you can work from anywhere, there might be a large population who would rather live in a small/mid-size city instead of a sprawling metropolis. There is a huge cascade of effects that could take place if we transition to a large fully remote workforce, and I don't think a blanket statement can capture all of those aspects,