I can see examples of all of these trends just in my own company.
Our core business is consulting, which up until recently had involved a lot of travel for project teams because clients were resistant to remote-work. Now the clients have been forced to adopt this model and they're learning that it works, plus they are avoiding significant costs associated with the travel & lodging that they've been paying for.
We've replaced in-person company meetings with video conferences -- usually Microsoft Teams -- and everyone, at all levels of the company up to the executive team -- is getting more comfortable with that way of interacting. And again, far fewer travel-related expenses.
Just this past month, one of my co-workers, a high-level management person living in the California bay area -- the location of one of our major company offices -- moved her family to Utah. Another co-worker moved out of the Chicago office where she was hired to live near her sister up in Michigan. Pre-pandemic we were much more location-oriented, but with everything remote now, that company culture has changed quickly as domestic pressures take precedence.
Meanwhile, a few of my co-workers in this area are longing to get BACK to the office where they can work in peace, rather than in a crowded household. But my direct manager (one of those suffering from cabin-fever) admitted to me that he wouldn't be surprised if our parent company doesn't renew the lease on our office space. We're a very small branch, fewer than 30 staff, and even on a good day pre-pandemic, there were never more than about a dozen people in the office at any time. The cost reduction would be tempting.
And lastly, one of the challenges we're facing will be onboarding new employees remotely. The rest of us have been working together for years. I've been there 20 years, as have several others; turnover is low so we have a close-knit group and shifting to remote connections was an easy transition given that history. But this past week we added a brand-new developer, and he's never met any of us in person. It's going to be difficult to integrate him, even through it's a very friendly group. He's odd-man-out and the normal ways of getting to know him and integrate him into our office aren't available anymore.
Post-pandemic (if we get there) may shift a little back, but we'll never go back to where things were before. There will be reduced demand for business travel and lodgings, less demand for prime commercial space, and significantly more freedom to live anywhere as long as there's a good internet connection.
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