COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc upon the world, forcing us to reshape the way we do our jobs. The Coronavirus pandemic has forced much of the global workforce to leave the office and perform their jobs from home. Employees had to learn how to communicate with their teams through apps like Zoom. Somewhere in between all of these new adjustments, employees realized that being able to work remotely is actually pretty great. We are experiencing what industry experts are calling the ‘Great Resignation’. Employees are leaving their current jobs at a record pace for more happiness and more flexibility. While companies call for employees to return to their office desks, employees are walking away from their jobs for good. Employees have realized how great remote work is, and they are standing firm about needing to come back.

Despite many employees wanting to remain remote, companies were beginning to set reopening dates for employees to return anyway. However, with new waves of the COVID virus appearing across the globe, these companies have been forced to push back those dates. Companies are beginning to question whether or not a full return to office is still feasible...and the answer is that it might not be, possibly ever!

Companies Are Delaying Their Return-to-Office Dates

Many of the most prolific organizations have begun to accept that remote work is the new normal. LinkedIn has officially announced that they will let their employees choose between full-time remote work or a hybrid option as their offices open up in the coming months. Corporations like Google and Apple had plans to reopen their offices this summer to fully vaccinated employees, but have decided to look at a new tentative date of October 2021.

Twitter had just recently reopened their New York and San Francisco offices at 50% capacity to vaccinated employees who wanted to come back to work. After careful consideration, they’ve decided to close their offices yet again due to the Delta strain of the Coronavirus. Twitter has even gone as far as to say that employees can work from home “forever” if they want to.

Nearly two years into the Coronavirus pandemic, companies are realizing that a return to “normal” office life is no longer feasible. Companies need to adjust to the new normal of remote work being a part of their office operations. If your company chooses not to adjust to this new way of work-life, it may not survive post-pandemic.

Why We Should Be Embracing Remote Offices

Sure, with the looming threat of COVID-19, keeping our employees out of the office and safely inside of their homes definitely seems like the smart choice. But this isn’t the only reason remote-first workplaces are great ideas. There are many benefits to remote work for both employees and employers.

Employees that work from home enjoy a sense of flexibility and better work-life balance. Working from home has given employees that double as parents or caregivers the opportunity to make life easier to balance. Working remotely has also allowed employees to enjoy higher productivity and better job performance. Additionally, employees cut costs by not needing to commute or pay for things like coffee and lunch on their breaks.

While employees reap the benefits of a virtual office, employers also get to enjoy their fair share of perks. For starters, if there is no physical office space, then there is no rent to pay! Remote work will improve your bottom line and allow your teams to work at their peak productivity levels. It may even save your company over $10,000 a year! The best case for a remote-first work environment is that it allows you to seek new hires outside of your normal talent pool. Having a remote-first office gives you access to top talent from around the world. You no longer need to rely solely on candidates inside of a certain radius of your company’s headquarters.

Remote Work is Here to Stay

It’s clear that remote work is not a COVID trend. Remote work has been gaining in popularity for a long time, but it was never an option for some employees. What COVID has done is make remote work accessible to more people. Employees have learned that they can have a better work-life balance by working from home. Likewise, employers have realized that employees are even more productive at home than they are in the office.

What companies will do moving forward remains to be seen. However, remote work will need to be a part of their organizational structure no matter what. Bryq has been a remote-first working environment since we started. We can help you build your perfect remote team too!

Our pre-hiring assessments are able to gauge candidates for the qualities that you should be looking for in a remote hire through what we call our Remote Working Indicator. This indicator carefully assesses whether or not a candidate is suited for remote work. This allows you to hire the right employee every time. So, while the competition is still trying to crack proper hiring for remote workers, you can get ahead of the pack and secure a competitive advantage for your company - today!