8%
Yes, only 8%.
Of all the professionals and knowledge workers who worked in midtown and downtown Manhattan before the pandemic, only 8% are back working from their office buildings right now.
The heatmap below, showing Internet usage data patterns in NYC, makes this most clearly.
Green = increase in usage
Red = decrease in usage
The data pattern in Paris (as well as in other major cities) shows a similar picture.
What does this mean?
Early on, as talented young workers migrated to big cities, companies followed, attracting more talent in turn.
But as the pandemic drives migration away from cities, companies, schools and colleges have to examine — and recalibrate — their future workforce plans.
While it’s still in flux, this shift might be the early sign of key changes that’ll shape the future of work, including:
Decoupling of work and space
Work and learn from anywhere
Talent and skills flow everywhere, breaking up geographic “tie-ins”
Companies source future talent and skills everywhere
The hunt for the best shifts from “local” to “global”
Jobs, the most prevalent work “format” we know now, breaks up and gets reshaped into smaller “units” of work/value
Several big companies postponed their plans on returning to office work until at least July 2021, while some postponed it indefinitely.
It’s worth keeping in mind that the longer companies wait on returning to “normal”, the less likely it is to happen.
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