Was Remote Work The Answer All Along?

If the Pandemic taught us one thing, it’s that remote work was actually feasible for many people.

Think about it: working from the comfort of your home without the hassle of getting ready, commuting, and having more flexible hours? No wonder it took over, with Upwork reporting a 40% productivity increase.

It also worked out for employers since there was no need to rent office space and invest in its maintenance. Communication apps and programs like monitoring software made it easy to check what work was being done while maintaining its quality.

So, why did remote work diminish the moment the lockdown was lifted? If it benefited both employers and employees, it should’ve become the ‘new normal,’ right?

Except that isn’t what happened.

Instead, working remotely was suddenly deemed as a ‘failed system.’ Post-pandemic, all companies thriving on having their employees clock in from home decided to bring their people back into a traditional 9-to-5.

Remote job listings started vanishing, with states such as Massachusetts seeing a decline as big as 33.5%.

And what were the reasons they gave for shutting down remote work? Well, they felt flimsy at best. There was a system showing great promise in changing our work culture, and suddenly, it wasn’t worth it? There’s more to this than meets the eye, so let’s break it down.

• Remote working, both pre and post-pandemic
• Why job opportunities started drying up
• Physicians and remote work

Remote Work: Answering A Desperate Call

Technically, COVID-19 didn’t just appear overnight in 2020. But like most pandemics in history, it skyrocketed before we knew what was going on. In one case, in December 2019, the world was abruptly halted within two months.

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At first, people believed that this was temporary. A week, perhaps a couple more, and then everyone would be back on the grind again. And when that didn’t happen, companies decided they couldn’t stay in limbo any longer, seeing their businesses crash in real time. So, the remote work model entirely took off.

And, well, it worked. Remote work meant employees could finish their assignments and meet deadlines without endangering themselves or others. Thanks to their digitized nature, plenty of careers seamlessly adapted to working from home. Work could start right back up again without going against lockdown guidelines.

In hindsight, it was pretty simple. Remote work was always a thing, even before COVID-19. The idea of the ‘digital nomad’ was uncommon, but not unheard of, being able to start a career from anywhere in the world.

So, it wasn’t that hard to see why it worked in a world where zero physical contact was the golden rule.

But the pandemic boom of remote work didn’t last forever.

From communication issues to a ‘lack of trust,’ companies everywhere scaled back on the WFH model, leading to remote worker rates declining considerably by February 2022. The sector that hit the most was federal agencies, where government workers were called in to work in person.

However, every industry was bringing their employees back into the office, with fully remote job listings dropping to 8% in the first quarter of 2024. This is a sharp drop from 11% by the end of 2023 alone.

It didn’t help that the moment the lockdown lifted, the government started doubling down on the importance of working in person, with then-President Joe Biden even calling for workplaces to resume on-site working as it was ‘critical to workplace culture.’

But is it?

Remote Working VS In-Person Employment

Before discussing why remote working failed, we need to discuss what this shift in working entailed. Like every new system implemented, working from home had benefits and shortcomings.

Although working from home has its own set of issues, around 65% of employees working in remote positions expressed being satisfied with their current arrangements. This is more than employees at a regular office can say about their work culture.

This is primarily due to remote workers having more leeway in deciding how their hours will be spent. After all, when you choose your timings for things like lunch breaks, you work around what makes you the most productive.

And then there is the sheer amount of savings you get done while working from home. Commuting to work can be both a hassle and expensive, with the average American spending upwards of $8000 to get to their jobs on time.

That’s almost 19% of the average income. And we haven’t even gotten the money you need for work clothes, lunches, company outings, etc.

There is some truth to the communications thing. Because working from home can be so engaging, it’s hard to socialize much. It also leads to miscommunications since some discussions work better in person and cannot be summarized in text alone.

Then again, there is a workaround to that. Thanks to the Pandemic, we saw a rise in conference and work management apps that helped elevate remote working to the next level. Zoom, for example, meant no more individual call groups that couldn’t accommodate more than four people at a time. Apps like Slack and Todoist make assigning and finishing tasks much more manageable.

The only significant benefit of working in person is being able to create connections, whether it’s with colleagues or clients. This exposure helps you become a better communicator and handle most interactions effectively.

But aside from that? There isn’t much that sells in-person work better than remote work.

A Parasitic Workplace Culture?

The transportation industry saw a major decline in people using public transit to work, thanks to everything going online. However, even essential workers seemed to need to avoid public transportation, leading to fewer work commutes.

Because nobody was physically going to work, maintaining an office space felt like a significant waste of resources.

After all, why keep an empty building running when everyone could work independently from home? So, commercial real estate took a real hit with that one, with many office compounds left for dead and making no money for those who owned them. And the effects are still happening.

However, the most underrated side effect of remote work was the loss of control that employers started struggling with.

See, now that employees aren’t under constant monitoring and get to decide their own schedule, it means they can gauge what work matters and what doesn’t. To any middle managers, that might sound like an employee looking to slack off.

But in hindsight, productivity actually goes up when working from home. 47% of remote workers admit they take fewer breaks and remain more focused on their tasks, with 30% even completing their assigned tasks ahead of time.

So, really, are it the remote workers who weren’t fulfilling the end of their bargain? Or were the issues with remote work all these other factors that depend upon physical employees clocking in?

Because the proof is right there in the pudding. It’s why hybrid systems, where employees are asked to come into the office once or twice a week, are slowly gaining more momentum in the corporate world.

It’s just that the corporate world (and all the side industries attached to it) doesn’t want a conversation that could reduce their profits or make the masses question their efficiency and leadership.

How Does Medicine Go Remote?

Okay, but how do medical fields factor into remote work? Medicine is a physical job where you must be on the ground engaging with patients, but you can also practice it remotely.

Telemedicine exists for a reason. Also known as Virtual Care, telemedicine has become the new frontier of medicine for those who can’t access it as readily.

Ever since the pandemic lockdown happen, the importance of having medical care that is accessible from miles apart? It quickly became a necessity.

This doesn’t just benefit the patient, either. There are so many doctors out there who could easily work remotely. Doctors who are disabled, immunocompromised, or even retired can easily take up remote work and still practice in their respective fields.

But that’s not all. Medicine isn’t just about being a physician. Plenty of research positions hiring doctors and administrative positions can be work-from-home.

Remote working systems can significantly benefit the medical fraternity if they evolve and grow.

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