On Sunday, May 24, 2020 at 2:14:17 PM UTC+1, sms wrote:
On 5/22/2020 11:25 AM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

If the US state of Georgia is any indication, most
of the jobs lost are not going to return immediately making commuting
more of a long term problem than an immediate crisis.

The number of workers that will be able to work in the office is going
to be dramatically reduced, at least in this area.

When I came to live in Ireland, people I consulted to said I was crazy. Even some of my publishers let it be known that they would prefer to have me in London (actually up the road in Cambridge) or in New York, where they could keep an eye on their investment. Back then my communications were the phone, the fax and he modem. The modem was the best available, 300 baud -- that's right, three hundred baud. A runner with a cleft stick would have been faster. But by 1996 I was able to say that I wouldn't get on a plane to appear in person any more, and shortly videoconferencing made the entire question moot. Today's facilities make those available as recently as 1996 look positively Neanderthal.

But if today working from home is a breeze for all kinds of knowledge workers, keeping them motivated to work on is an entirely new problem, and potentially quite serious. Some people are going to miss working in groups, face to face; social pressure from colleagues is one of the most effective motivators, and underrated even by experts because it is invisible and insidious.

Andre Jute
Hidden persuader