A recent article in The Atlantic by Derek Thompson caught my eye. In the article entitled The Five Day Workweek Is Dead, Thompson opines that the future of work, at least for those not saddled with having to work at a specific place, will be radically different. The pandemic has introduced millions of workers to the new freedom of remote work—be it at home, at the beach, or Starbucks. And, says Thompson, they ain’t going back.
Instead, workers may return to the office part time-say Tuesday through Thursday. The rest of the time, they will work wherever and whenever they want.
And says Thompson, to get people to come to the office, employers will have to make the office a “destination,” an “experience.” Thompson quotes Mitchell Moss, a professor of urban policy at New York University: future offices will have to offer “an experience that people seek out, with terraces, and outdoor areas, and fancy gyms, and places to eat.”
Of course, as Thompson notes, this shift away from a five day in the office work week could have enormous repercussions. It could fundamentally alter everything from how we train younger workers and inculcate firm to the very nature of downtown areas themselves. Fewer workers mean less business for downtown shops and restaurants, which we have already seen.
And there is evidence that Thompson may be right. In a recent interview in the Wall Street Journal, Sundar Pichai, Google CEO, said:
I think the future of work will be flexible…[W]e do think its important to get people in a few days a week, but we are embracing all options…[M]ost of our workforce will be coming in three days a week. But I think we can be more purposeful about the time they’re in, making sure
