COVID-19’s lasting affect on how we live, work
Remember when your home was the place you went to relax after a long day at work? Now, that idea seems as quaint as June Cleaver’s habit of donning pearls and high heels to vacuum before Ward returned from the office.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic has forced millions of people to hunker down, homes have become the place where we work, exercise, educate our children, enjoy (virtual) happy hour and catch a movie. And that trend is likely to linger long after the pandemic is under control, according to a forecast by Euromonitor International, a global market research firm.
Euromonitor International released its forecast of trends for 2020 early in the year but felt compelled to update it after COVID-19 upended the way we live and work. Some of the trends in the firm’s original forecast have accelerated. For example, while many young professionals were already moving away from traditional workplace culture, the pandemic forced millions of others to turn their homes into remote offices. The shift is expected to linger long after it’s safe to leave the house, said Euromonitor’s Alison Angus.
Managers who resisted telework have discovered that employees are not, in fact, watching “Law and Order” reruns when they should be working, and many employees have discovered that they don’t miss going into an office every day. A Gallup survey conducted in April found that three out of five workers who have been working from home during the pandemic would like to continue working remotely even after public health restrictions are lifted.
The shift to teleworking for large numbers of workers has far-reaching implications. For a remote workforce, every day is casual Friday, which could lead to more demand for comfortable clothes and a decline in sales of suits and dresses. If employers decide they don’t need as much office space, office rents could decline, depressing earnings of commercial real estate firms. Even after they reopen, restaurants that rely on traffic from office workers could also see a decline in business, Angus said.
Consumers are increasingly turning to robots, drones and other remote technologies to provide “contactless delivery” of products and services. “The pandemic could propel robots into the mainstream, moving them from novelty to essential,” Angus said. Consumers have also increased their use of smart speakers, voice control and other technologies that reduce the need to touch potentially contaminated surfaces.
While the pandemic expedited some trends, it stalled others, including concerns about privacy. Before the pandemic, consumers were increasingly skeptical of the way their personal data was used and demanded more transparency from technology companies. Now, they’re much more willing to give up personal information if they believe it will protect them and their families from the coronavirus.
Still, tech companies shouldn’t become complacent. Euromonitor predicts that once the pandemic crisis has passed, consumers will continue to demand more information about how their data is packaged and sold.