SEEKING WORK/LIFE BALANCE
New Work Models Are Emerging
The COVID pandemic changed how we work. Or more precisely, the pandemic shutdown accelerated a trend that had been brewing for a generation: changing the way people think about working for a living. More and more workers are now asking “Am I living to work or working to live?” and questioning the antiquated standard of working nine to five for someone else’s benefit. At the same time, the shutdown left many people out of work, forcing them to explore new ways to support themselves through self-employment or gig work.
The most prominent change that arose during the pandemic was in commuting patterns. Office workers, and others who did not have to be physically present at their places of work, were offered the option of working from home if they had adequate internet and telephone service. The result was an eye-opening experience for both the workers and their employers.
Workers suddenly found themselves with, on average, two more hours of personal time every workday that was not spent commuting. They began each day less stressed and more refreshed. They ended each day more relaxed and able to spend more time with family or pursuing favorite activities. They also saved substantial amounts of money on transit fares or car expenses. With more free time and energy, they exercised more. Without the stress and anxiety of commuting their health improved. And despite the uncertainty of the COVID threat, many were happier.
Employers at first tended to balk at the idea of remote work, but many soon realized unexpected benefits. They quickly learned that some employees were more productive working from home than in the office, but that some other employees were less productive and needed supervision or possibly replacement. Many employers also found that they required less office space in high-rent downtown buildings. Even today, the office vacancy rate in Boston and many similar cities is around twenty percent, four times what it was before the pandemic.
Many workers who did not have the option of remote work and who lost their jobs during the pandemic got creative and started their own businesses or developed side gigs. Crafters flocked to Etsy and eBay where they found an international customer base. Writers enrolled on Substack, where those with name recognition now make big money. Consultants of all types found broader markets online. The number of internet “influencers” ballooned. This trend has continued after the pandemic ended, with the number of newly established small businesses registered in the past year setting a new record.
As these changes have become institutionalized into our culture, workers have also found a new flexibility in work hours. The trend toward flex hours is now moving into in-person jobs, with employers experimenting with four ten-hour day weeks, or offering flex time options within the traditional workday. The nationwide shortage of workers that has resulted from older employees taking early retirement during the pandemic, and further aggravated by government restrictions on immigrant workers, has given employees new power to negotiate higher wages, more benefits, and flexible hours. The worker shortage has also effectively raised the minimum wage to eighteen dollars or more in many urban areas.
For decades now industrial jobs have been disappearing as international corporations moved production to countries with less expensive labor and less restrictive regulations. At the same time, computer technology has enabled the replacement of eighty percent or more of industrial production workers with robots or other automated machinery. With less need for employees, industrial corporations are now moving production facilities back to the states, saving on transportation costs and reducing supply chain problems.
What all of these changes represent is a new relationship, not only between workers and their employers, but also between work and personal needs, family, social activities, and community health. The key element here is that more people are now doing work they enjoy and fewer are forced into drudge work. Some who define their lives by their work will continue to put in long hours and be well rewarded for it. But others who still work to live have far more flexibility to define when and how they work than they had even five years ago.