DISCLAIMER: This article represents my personal views and not those of my employer or any affiliated organizations.
This past month, I did the unthinkable…
I made my return to office.
However, it was on my own terms, and of my own choice. After all, I was returning to NYC to see some friends and check on my belongings after far too long away.
How was the experience?
I prepared the night before, laid out my clothes, shaved, made sure all my belongings were in my backpack.
The next morning, I walked onto a subway which was about half the capacity it normally is. Felt kind of lonely, but thankfully there were no crazy happenings which come from mass crowds. Well, aside from the few people who refused to wear masks…
I peacefully walked off the subway, with a swing in my step as I proceeded to my first office visit. The receptionist checked me in, and I went upstairs.
Wow, what a beautiful space. It had feelings of WeWork in its heyday.
I greeted and met some coworkers for my first time. Set up my laptop as I had done in previous workspaces.
What was different?
There were far less people. This gave it a different feel than the office I “knew”.
However I actually appreciated the diminished capacity. There was very little “white noise” to distract from deep focus, even without earbuds in.
There was no in-person meetings to rush or be late to. Everything was on Zoom. My in-person interactions were on my terms. The office space even held a “hybrid” trivia happy hour, where some of us joined virtually, and others in real life.
What can a successful hybrid model look like?
There’s been a lot of talk of how we need a “hybrid model” to move forward with the return to office.
What does that even mean?
For many companies, that means making all staff return to the office 2-3 days a week. That’s not truly hybrid work. That’s flexible work-from-home.
A true hybrid model would give the choice for some of the staff to come in-person, and some to work remotely (permanently). This model most benefits our post-pandemic transition, as it limits office capacity to only what’s necessary.
It gives working moms the choice to get employer-provided childcare, and join in-office if they wish. Or, for those same moms to work from home (or wherever they wish), being home for sick kids or taking care of time-draining errands.
What are the challenges of return to office?
As with any crisis, a snappy shift from one extreme to the other can cause a lot of trouble. We might think “back to normal” for a return to office will be easy.
Let’s also think about all the workers who’ve left their given careers for lack of work, voluntarily or involuntarily.
We have one of the worst worker “shortages” in decades due to this.
The MTA subway staff in New York used to run at least 6 trains per hour. Now they only have the capacity to run 2-3. What is that going to look like when there’s a mass return of people to NYC?
How about lunch? While restaurants are running with 1/3 of their normal staff, how long will getting food take?
Will traffic administration be able to deal with a new influx of single-person commuter cars?
Before the crisis, I had a daily commute to Times Square. It was an improvement on previous years, when I’d travel from Brooklyn to “the city” proper. I was now living in the Financial District at the south end of Manhattan. My alarm would go off at 7 AM. I’d sometimes get a chance to go on a ultra-quick jog, before my shower (7:30). After showering, I’d throw on my clothes, scarf down a yogurt and a cup of coffee (8:00).
I’d then speed walk the 20 minutes to the subway train (8:20). Once on the train, I’d hopefully make it to my stop in 30 minutes (8:50). Some days, the train would be delayed for up to an hour. (9:50). Either way, I’d be speed-walking through the Times Square crowds, getting into the office out of breath with scrambled thoughts.
This would be similar for someone who commuted by car (which I once did). The difference is that they’d be worried about wrecking their vehicle in a fender bender, versus avoiding characters and bodily injury.
Do People Actually Want to Go Back to the Office?
There have been a lot of articles recently reminiscing about the commute. The status quo says “people miss the office environment”, but data often points to the opposite, that “workers prefer a hybrid office model”.
Research has also shown that workers are more productive when working remotely, with most managers agreeing to the same.
Many companies that flirted with the idea of long-term remote work are now calling employees back. Some have slated a return to office as early as this summer.
Another frequent nod, “With remote work, there is no separation between work and home life”. Why do we feel we need to be forced to commute, vs. making that time for ourselves?
Take a Break from your Devices
When you worked in the office, how long did you stare at your computer screen before taking a break? Probably 30 minutes. You walked over to a coworker to ask a question, or stopped by the kitchen to grab a snack.
Why is working at home any different?
An estimated 58% of people who work on computers experience “Computer Vision Syndrome”. The symptoms include eye strain, blurred vision, headaches, neck and back pain.
Lucky for you, there’s ways to mitigate this. Like me, you could purchase prescription (or non-prescription) blue light glasses. If you work on a Macbook Pro, there is a feature called Night Shift. It’s quite easy. You can also set when it turns on, “Sunset to Sunrise”, turn it on manually, and select the color temperature.
Just click on the Apple Icon > System Preferences > Displays > Night Shift
Time Management
With no commutes, there has been a time shift. Some people do not realize this.
If you’re working in a different time zone (Pacific, for example), you’re starting your work day 3 hours earlier than the East Coast.
Let’s say you start your work day at 8 AM PST, that’s 11 AM EST.
If you end your work day at 2 PM PST, that’s 5 PM EST.
However, you have only worked for 6 hours, not a full 8 hour day.
Instead of going to run errands, why not power it out and finish your day at 4 PM PST?
Commutes are Bad for the Environment (Poor Health, Wasted Gas & Electricity, Pollution)
This may seem obvious, but commutes by vehicle or train are extremely harmful to the environment.
Studies show that the average drive to work adds 4.3 metric tons of carbon to the atmosphere a year, per car.
People with longer commutes tend to be less physically active. They also have higher rates of obesity and high blood pressure.
I was personally gobsmacked, when the MTA announced they’d be bleaching subway trains every night at the dawn of the virus.
How often was it cleaned before then? What kind of microscopic virii were floating around the subway car?
These are a few (of many) risks that workers will face in the return to the office.
The Importance of Setting Boundaries at Home
If you co-habit with a family, significant other, or roommate, working from home can be a strain. It does not have to be, as long as you keep distance between yourself and your “boarding mates”.
Being a parent is a whole other ball game. However, balancing structure and play for your kids is a good idea. If you’re driving eachother nuts, go outside for a bit, or recommend they go outside to play.
Many people have a “home office” room where they lock themselves away, and yet their kids or dogs still find a way into their lap. What if you actually created your working space outside? During warmer months, you could work from the garage or even the garden shed if you wanted to.
If you work from a laptop, creating a mobile workspace is also an idea. Move around the house. I’ve used any variety of surfaces as a desk – The kitchen table, a recliner, the garden table, even wide window ledges (as a standing desk).
As the crisis comes to an end, it’s more likely that you’ll work out of a coffee shop or a co-working space within your own neighborhood.
Recommended for Remote Work:
So do you see? It’s not so bad.
There will be a need for companies to subsidize remote working office setups. It pays for itself as those workers may not be using office resources (office equipment, printers, snacks, etc.). There are even companies dedicated to working from home, like WFH Zone UK.
Much of the workforce has now had a taste of remote working. The likelihood they’ll want to go back to an outdated, 20th century office is highly unlikely.
The release timing of Nomadland could not be better. Here we are, in a national crisis that has put millions out of work. The employed and the unemployed are suddenly living remote lifestyles.
A few weeks ago, Nomadland started gaining major attention on Hulu, and I decided to watch it. The movie is liberating, realistic, and heartbreaking all at once.
Here is a large group of past-retirement adults. They roam around the United States working seasonal jobs for different reasons. Some do it for pleasure. However, many do it as a necessity. This is due to the lack of the social safety net that was seemingly certain when they were kids.
Great Recession and then COVID
The rallying cry after the Great Recession was “What about the Millennials?” The lopsided focus ignored the fact that many adult homeowners across the country had lost their homes and careers. This got to the point that some were delivering pizza to stay afloat.
Even in the midst of strong post-Recession economic growth, the economy of many U.S. counties was actually shrinking. The people in these areas were already relatively poor. The Recession made them even poorer. Six states, eight years after the Recession, showed outright contraction. (See map above)
“Nomadland: Surviving America in the 21st Century”, the book version, was published in 2017 about a decade after the Recession. It clearly reflects that for many, the Recession never ended.
The American Dream is not Necessary
As many “Millennials” found, the American Dream is not necessary to actually being happy in America. It’s easy to see that we weave back and forth from “do it ourselves” mentality to wealth worship, ever more frequently. It took longer for Baby Boomers to realize this, but when they did, they ran with it.
Older workers’ paychecks are not only threatened during the virus crisis. Their very life is at risk when working people-facing jobs. Staying in a hyper-dense urban area could be fatal for them.
Becoming an “involuntary nomad” is a way out.
Frances McDormand’s character “Fern” is an outstanding case study. She’s a 60-something widow in a one-business gypsum mining town in Nevada. Fern lost both her house and job. She decides to pack her belongings into a van she comically nicknames “Van Halen”.
It’s notable that real people who were profiled in the book constitute most of Nomadland’s cast.
How real is the movie? Here’s a perspective video from a real nomad, Carolyn, who was an extra in the cast of Nomadland.
Ageism
As of 2019 U.S. census data models, 19.4% of the U.S. population were over age 65. 38.5% was over 50, including the previous segment. 19.1% of the previous set were between age 50 and 65, not yet retirement age, and “in the workforce”.
Non-retired Americans tend to experience difficulty finding work, even if they had been in a leadership role. And yet, the age 20-50 demographic (39.5%) ends up shouldering much of the work burden for the rest of the country. This is not sustainable.
Nearly one in four workers (age 45 and older) have been subjected to negative comments about their age from supervisors.
About 3 in 5 older workers have seen or experienced age discrimination in the workplace.
76% of these older workers see age discrimination as a hurdle to finding a new job. A report found that over half of these older workers are prematurely pushed out of longtime jobs. 90% of them never earn as much again.
The biting reality of ageism as a bias is this: We will all one day grow old.
Temporary Jobs / Lack of Work
In Nomadland, many of the nomads represent a transient workforce. The “campers” travel seasonally from worksite to worksite. They go where work takes them, since a conventional work environment would not “take” them.
While inherently different, this parallels the archetype of “migrant workers” as overwhelmingly Hispanic and working in agriculture. It underlines a need for a renewed focus on that. My mother worked for years as a teacher/home worker with United Migrant Opportunity Services and Head Start, and poverty is something that touches everyone. People face unique challenges, and the problem must be looked at from a birds’ eye view.
Somehow we all survive. Carolyn, mentioned above, relates her nomadic decision to “how they keep you in a job for 40 years and a mortgage for 30 years, so you’re shackled as workers for the powerful and rich elite”.
The nomads in the movie/novel aren’t completely detached from “the rich and powerful”, however. One of the standout scenes features Frances McDormand doing seasonal work at a corporate warehouse. The company actually hosts a jobs program specifically for nomads.
So there is a symbiotic relationship with gig labor that allows them to live their lifestyle. What does that say about the companies that host them? That’s at your discretion.
Beyond seasonal gigs, these nomads will also work as campground hosts, for low pay ($800 per month on the high end). This can sometimes be perilous, even if it fits the lifestyle well. On our recent trip to Death Valley, we had the pleasure of being greeted by one of these hosts, who had plenty of stories from the road. He seemed to genuinely enjoy hearing about our journey, and even gave us tips for the next leg.
What You Want vs. What You Need
Many of these nomads believe that they are living better and cheaper than they did when they actually had an apartment or house. Their vehicles are mostly set up to be self-sustaining. Some even have solar panels which can power everything they need, sans electricity bill. One can live the recreational vehicle lifestyle on $500 per month. Your consumption costs will go way down.
They also feel that they are using their “good years in a good way”. One nomad referenced Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden”, “Why would you work all your life to have a little bit of freedom at the end of your life, when if you could live efficiently, you could adventure through life now?”
Bob Wells is the leader of the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous, a national gathering of the nomads in Quartzsite, AZ. His story is unique. He just finished a divorce, making payments to alimony and child support. Like many divorced fathers around the country, he had lost so much of his life. This was a turning point for him. He decided living in a van was actually a step up for him, hasn’t looked back, and has grown to lead the gathering each year.
The Places We Left, the Places We’re Going
The towns that these nomads left will continue on without them, but may continue to shrink and dwindle. However, I pointed out something important in my recent articles, Why Are We Ignoring the Midwest? and 4 Reasons You Should Leave the City. The post-virus “Great Dispersal” could repopulate those areas with new infrastructure, regenerating economy and services around it.
In a completely apolitical sense, the “Buy American” act seems destined to pass through Congress. According to a White House press release, “The U.S government should, whenever possible, procure goods, products, materials and services from sources that will help American businesses compete in strategic industries and help America’s workers thrive.”
The electric vehicle (EV) sector is also in review in a White House supply chain order, and solar cell usage is heating up all around the country. These changes could be a replenishment to rural areas, in both the private and the public sectors. Most of these industries fall under manufacturing and union labor, a key driver for these “elder nomads”.
We are in the midst of a seismic change in America. If a rising tide lifts all boats, why not lift up our aging workers?
“Everything in life is security and comfort vs. freedom. You guys live in nice houses, you have all the comforts, you have very limited freedom.”
DISCLAIMER: This article represents my personal views and not those of my employer or any affiliated organizations.
2022 is a “gap year” of opportunity! Are you still sitting in a leased apartment or mortgaged home during the virus crisis? If so, why?
There are many who wanted to undertake this journey before the virus, but were prohibited by outstanding cost, time, or just life.
Most companies are trending to support remote work or hybrid offices indefinitely. I’ve written more about this in my recent article here.
In the post-Corona era, you can have both: Work and life!
My partner Elise and I had wanted to become digital nomads for the longest time. The week New York City went into lockdown, we left. Even with an international flight ban, a plane to Palm Springs, CA and a pickup truck rental did the trick.
You don’t have to forgo a “financial gap year” of your career to be a digital nomad. You don’t even have to leave your country!
Even if you have a significant other or children. There’s something for everyone.
Useful Gear for Digital Nomads:
So how do you get started?
Leaving home is not a small decision. There is a lot of pre-planning that needs to happen before you depart.
While my perspective is in the U.S. – This could work in whatever country you may call home.
I’ve tried to compile many of these steps below, to make things easier for you.
Figure out where you want to go.
A plan is like insurance. Don’t leave home without it.
Are you planning on getting to your destinations by driving? By air?
A general rule of thumb is planning 3 months in advance.
This is long enough that you don’t have to be panicking, planning where to go next.
However, it’s short enough that if a major interruption occurs (family / work event, etc.) you can cancel your itineraries.
Check your documentation and registrations.
Is your documentation current?
If you’re driving you’ll need a valid driver’s license (surprise).
Is your license renewed? Is there a risk of it expiring while you’re abroad on your gap year? You don’t want to have to go back to your home state to renew it.
Where will you be receiving mail?
It’s important to have a solid home address for important documents and letters.
This could be your parents’ house/apartment or a P.O. Box.
Services like Earth Class Mail will actually act as a “virtual P.O. Box”, and securely digitize your mail into PDFs. No physical interaction required.
For packages while you’re on the road – Always have a tracking number, and it’s preferable if you’re staying in the same area at least 2 weeks.
Secure your travel plans (including a car if you need to)
How are you going to get to your destination?
Do you own a car?
If so, check your registration. We found that some states may require you to return to the state for emissions testing, etc. You may need to re-register in a state that’s closer to where you are.
In the case you don’t, is renting, leasing or buying a vehicle most cost-effective?
I’ll go into detail on this in a later article. There are big differences, and distinct advantages between renting and leasing. See a helpful Investopedia summary here.
If you’re flying, have you looked up travel restrictions and the quarantine times for your destination city?
Do they require a virus test? Is there a limited visa? If so, how many days/months are you allowed to stay?
Expert Vagabond gives other helpful tips on overall logistics and making money as a digital nomad.
Figure out your housing situation
Are you locked into a lease? When does it end?
Most apartments in big cities will let you break your lease. However you have to think about the cost vs. benefit.
No lease? No mortgage? Not a problem. Continue on to the next point.
Book your first places to stay
During the virus, volume on vacation rentals is ultra-high. You need to book months in advance. The last thing you want is to be is stuck without a lease, and without a place to live.
You would be surprised how quickly places get snapped up. It’s important to keep a wishlist of future stays you wish to book. Some sites will even send you an alert when an item on your wishlist becomes available.
AirBnB not the only option. There are other sites like VRBO that offer a similar service. Here’s a helpful list of other platforms, like Flipkey and Tripping.com, which are all slightly different. You should compare and see what’s best for you.
If you are younger, you may not mind staying at a hostel or co-living space with other people to save money.
Hostelworld is a great resource for this. Just be aware of your requirements for working and living. You’ll want to read reviews and book a location with relatively low people volume.
Move and put your things in a storage locker
Even if you’re not currently tied to a lease, you need somewhere to put your belongings.
You can find some affordable storage lockers if you’re willing to drive a bit out from the city center. If you need a more central location, be prepared to pay more.
Take an inventory of how much “stuff” you have.
The smallest unit most storage facilities offer is 5 ft. x 5 ft. That will perhaps fit one big piece of furniture (not a couch) and a room’s worth of small belongings (such as lamps, clothes, etc.)
The biggest unit is often a 10 ft. x 30 ft. This can fit a couch, a refrigerator, and about 2 rooms worth of “stuff”.
We use a company called StorageMart. This helpful storage comparison site Sparefoot allowed me to find it, which is like the “TripAdvisor” of storage.
Hitting the road!
Have you checked off all these items? Do you have everything together? Congratulations, you’re ready to head off on your “gap year” adventure!
There are plenty more things to learn about working as a digital nomad on the road during the virus. Stay tuned for a guide on that.
DISCLAIMER: This article represents my personal views and not those of my employer or any affiliated organizations.
If few like the traditional office environment, why would we go back to it?
What even is an office? You go to an office every day. Where are the roots of office culture?
At its most basic parts: “An office is that part of business enterprise which is devoted to the direction and co-ordination of its various activities.” No part of that definition which mentions it needs to be conducted in a physical space.
What’s the future of the office?
Office Culture Through the Ages
The word office stems from the Latin word “officium“. Interestingly, an officium was not a place, but rather an often mobile ‘bureau’, in the sense of a human staff.
Offices began in classical antiquity as part of a large palace or temple. The “chancery” rose in the Middle Ages as a place where most governmental letters and laws were written. In the 18th century, large conglomerate companies first came about, requiring many offices for clerks. Flat-top desks actually began around this time, as a way for managers to easily see activities of employees. By the 1950’s, it became clear that privacy had to come along with discretion, and we got the cubicle.
Workplace culture in the 1950’s was much more hierarchical, and soon cubicles started to be denigrated by workers as “little boxes”, while upper management received the corner offices. That brought us to the “open office” layout, now the de facto standard for major companies around the world.
And yet, “the office” has both positive and negative connotations.
For many people, the office is a separate environment from home, where they can relieve themselves from the pressures of home life and focus on work. Many modern companies also have a fully stocked kitchen with snacks and drinks on-the-house. Some even regularly get catering at no charge to the employee.
You have to live in close proximity to the metropolitan area your office is in. You lose maybe 2, even 3 hours of commuting time on the way to and from work. You have to attend events and office gatherings as well, which you’re not formally compensated for. In doing this, you lose time to see your significant other or kids.
COVID-19 heralds a new era. It represents all kinds of other risks and precautions to be taken. As workers return to offices in 2021, you may see temperature checks, one-way walking paths, assigned seating during meetings, and plexiglass shields everywhere. Simply riding the elevator presents a whole other kind of conundrum.
Offices just don’t make sense anymore.
What Does the Future of the Office Look Like?
Shows like the Jetsons imagined a future where George Jetson went to work in a flying car that fit into a suitcase, to an office where a boss remotely checked in on him via telescreens. While we may not be driving flying cars, they were not too far off with remote working. Unlike the TV show, there’s no reason to micromanage someone OR force them to come into an office. Post-pandemic, it seems common sense that eliminating large office spaces and not forcing commutes creates huge savings in both overhead costs and productivity.
Okay. So What are Some Solutions?
The Home is the New Office: Here’s an obvious one. Many companies are subsidizing office equipment for employees’ homes. Of course, there are certain things or equipment that couldn’t be included there.
Co-Working Space: Companies could keep a shared space for those who wanted to come in. This space could house equipment or services employees couldn’t use at home. Spaces like Convene can be rented out on short notice. There are also reports that furnished apartmentsare growing in use by remote workers visiting cities.
“Hot Desks”: An expansion on the co-working space idea, hot desking allows employees to use the same space at different times of the day. This could be an even bigger cost savings for smaller companies, in cities where real estate costs are high. Read more on how cities are changing here.
“3-2-2” Work Weeks: Following the themes above, many have advocated for 3 days in the office, 2 days working remote, and 2 days off. In-office staff’s calendars could be staggered to meet office capacity limitations.
Quarterly Conferences (Virtual or In-Person): With “Zoom fatigue” setting in, in-person interactions are still valuable. Every quarter, companies could hold in-person conferences where staff drive in, or fly in, to convene one-on-one about the events of the next quarter. In early stages, the seats could be spaced out and the majority of the time would be spent in breakout rooms. I just attended my first virtual conference, which included group activities, breakout sessions, and more.
Regional Segmentation Will Matter Less
When a workforce is spread across the globe, it is important to break it into manageable regions. That is here to stay. However, remote working opens up bandwidth. Workers in North America will share time zones with their South American counterparts. European times are adjacent to African/Middle Eastern times. And Asian times largely overlap with India and Australia. For example: If someone from your New York office takes an extended trip to Bogota, Colombia, they will be on a relatively unchanged time schedule. In a recent article, I laid out the common sense reasons and cost savings to move to the Midwest.
Flexible Hiring & Time Off
Flexible vacation is a growing benefit of many companies. While it’s not truly “unlimited”, as long as you have your manager’s approval, you can take the time off. There’s stats upon stats about how working mothers should not have to end their career because of a pregnancy, but have the best of both worlds: driving their career and parenting from home.
An uptick in temporary maternity and paternity leave policies has also meant a continually shifting workforce. This opens up space to bring on freelancers, or allow colleagues to try new disciplines while those workers are away. It could also open up regional opportunities for, say, someone in Santiago, Chile or Buenos Aires, Argentina to work with a team in New York. There would also be less limitations on hiring outside the major world commerce hubs, for example, in oft-overlooked regions like “Middle America”, “The North of England”, or in Pacific island countries for Asia-Pacific.
Not Everyone Will Want to Work Remotely
There are certain people who will want to come into an office – Parents who need a separate working environment, as well as those who have a small dwelling and need extra space to work, free of distractions. Some people find working remotely to be isolating or disorienting. At the same time, companies are seeing the need to deliver increased autonomy and trust to workers to fit their lifestyle.
Conclusion
Sprawling cubicles of yesteryear are left to “Dilbert” and the dustbin of history. The overhead costs of keeping an office open, and the pain of a commute and daycare for working parents makes ditching the office an obvious choice. In the 21st century, professionals are remote-ready and in-person interactions should be on their time.
The workplace evolved over centuries of history, why should it stop now?
