In 2020 there was a mass movement of workers from offices to their homes, especially during the most restrictive lockdowns designed to slow the transmission of the Corona virus; something many organizations were unaccustomed to (government departments, the Financial Services sector for instance). In turn this led to strong growth VPN connections, security software and PCs sales and a need to address cyber security processes, especially for those that had to embrace ‘bring your own’ client devices.
As inoculation reduces the risk of infection, so many organizations will mandate or encourage a return of their workforces to the office. Individuals will have had different experiences of home working, dependent on whether children were able to remain in school or not, how much space they have at home and how easily they found it to be able to concentrate on their job with the inevitable interruptions around them.
My eighth prediction is that the positive (and sometimes surprising) effects home working has had on productivity will lead to much more accommodating policies, with many organizations allowing home working even the pandemic is over – that a much larger proportion of office workers will be working from home in 2021 and beyond than ever would have been the case before the pandemic. In turn this will have a positive effect on cutting carbon emissions from computers, office heating and air conditioning and erode the separation between home and work life for millions of people. I also hope that in the first few months of 2021 we find ways beyond Zoom calls to create virtual water-cooler moments to help increase vital informal interactions that so many have been missing for the last year.
We mustn’t forget that there are many blue collar industry sectors in which home was impossible. Whether furloughed or not their will undoubtedly be enormous relief for many to be able to work in a safe environment in which they don’t risk catching dangerous illness.
Information Technology and Communications research
