There are lessons to be learned from this pandemic. For
example, now that lots of people have had experience working from home there is
the real question of why companies should expect all of their workers to lose
so much time and money – sometimes two hours or more – commuting in to a
central place, when they can work just as well from home. Not to mention the
climate effects, air pollution and infrastructure load that all that
unnecessary traffic imposes. And why should companies spend all that money
maintaining expensive office space? As many people have discovered, they often
get much more done working from home because there are not all the distractions
of the office – such as people just stopping by one’s desk to interrupt one’s
work.
There are a few companies thinking about a halfway measure –
opening distributed local offices closer to people’s homes to reduce commuting
(and in less expensive office space), all linked electronically.
Of course, not everyone can do their work from home. There
are lots of jobs – in labs, assembly lines, warehouses, restaurants, barber
shops, stores, etc - that require hands-on presence. But there are also lots of
jobs that could be just as well done remotely. People would have to learn to
work from home, and perhaps re-arrange their homes and home life a bit to
optimize the effort, but it might well be worth the effort.
And then there is the question of whether really all that
business travel is worth the cost, the climate effects, and the wasted time.
Why waste a whole day or two and a lot of money travelling to a meeting that
could be done just as well in a videoconference? Senior executives would have
to find some other way to feel important other than travelling all the time in
business or first class and eating out on a big expense account.
The college experience might also be re-thought. Those
well-off children who go to college for the parties, the fraternities, the
sports and the climbing walls may still spend the money for the experience. But
really, except for lab courses almost all college courses can be taught as well
online, and for much, much, much less cost to the student. That would put a lot
of superfluous college deans and administrators out of work. I could image a college undergraduate
experience with perhaps only one or two semesters on campus, just for the lab
courses, and the rest online.
Then there is the issue of travelling long distances to see
friends in other cities. With videoconferencing one can meet any friend anywhere
in the world anytime one wants to, without the expense and hassle of
travelling. Yes, I know it’s not quite the same thing as being there, but we
have learned through this pandemic how easy it is to stay connected to distant
friends in this new interconnected age.
There are lessons we ought to take away from this experience.
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