Our shift into a brand-new lifestyle happened so fast. In a glimpse of an eye, some of human’s common habits and undertaking have been disrupted. The traditional in-presence work experience seems to vanish little by little, giving in more places to casual and remote work experiences. The work environment has been one of the most affected fields, leading up to a change in the workforce as well as the shape of the workplace. Most people are now working remotely while others had to be laid off temporarily or to change job.

The future of job looks uncertain since many workers had to switch occupations. In fact, both individuals and companies suffer from these sudden changes and disruptions. They need to adopt a new approach on how they could adjust their work perspective and their skills towards that ever-changing shape of work.Taking into account cases of US employees, McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) suggests that 17 million workers may need to change occupation by 2030. It has been shown that the trends accelerated by COVID-19 are more likely to cause greater changes in the mix of occupations, with little work growth in low-wage jobs. In the post-COVID-19 context, a likelihood of decrease in employment rate in sectors like customer service, food service and office work is expected, whereas transportation jobs as well as Healthcare and STEM occupations may grow more than before the pandemic.

An ever-increasing change in the workplace

Amid the pandemic, the nature of work has already known an impactful shift. Similarly, post pandemic is expected to shape the future of workplace. Formal employment may go informal, which sometimes involves precarious jobs. On the other hand, office workers, for instance, may juggle with temporary shift from in-office work to remote one. In fact, remote work has already become the new trend for many companies. In surveys conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in November and December 2020, 72 percent of executives state that their organizations have started adopting permanent remote-working models. Similarly, 70 percent of employees say that being able to work from home for a few days a week is a top criterion in selecting their next job. Some findings – always provided by PwC – have even revealed that remote work has been an overwhelming success for both employees and employers.

As the rollout of vaccines is going well, the situation is expected to return to normal, yet everything has changed. It is no longer possible to think that the future workplace will look like the same as two years ago, like in pre-COVID-19. A report from MGI estimates that even after vaccines are fully rolled out and workplaces return to the new normal, US jobs could be done remotely with 22 percent for 3 to 5 days a week, 17 percent for 1 to 3 days and the remaining 61 percent for one day or less a week.

This finding shows that the “in-presence” work experience may not be necessarily useful anymore after the pandemic and that the “new normal” at work is what to be rethought the most.

Sources: McKinsey Global Institute / PwC / The conversation