Meredith Rieger

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5 Lasting Changes to Expect In the Workplace Post- Covid

3/11/2021

Covid has forced companies to go remote, employers have had to grapple with the idea of

reimagining the workplace post Covid. Many workplaces have taken these new styles of

working into consideration. As new employees or current employees in the workforce are

entering back into the workplace, the remote changes that were made might change the way

they work forever.

The most impactful change that is expected to continue is hybrid or remote work.

Remote work immediately became the new normal as quarantine began. For instance the work

routine for my dad, a software engineer, changed dramatically. Normally he would constantly

travel back and forth to New York, although the travel came to a stop. He went from

communicating face to face with his co-workers to switching over to online meeting calls.

Which is also a change that is expected to be used more for the workplace because it can be

more efficient for some. This changed the way people spoke to each other and changed

frustration levels, especially because the work is so tedious. There are both pros and cons to

remote work and that’s what has left many companies on edge with their decision to move

workers completely remote. Although some companies have more pros than cons, there has

been a huge rise in job loss and this directly impacted our economy.

In this remote work time, I frequently saw my family and friends as well as myself

becoming frustrated with the video conferencing platforms. These platforms include zoom,
google meets, etc. These video conferencing platforms have had huge growth throughout this

pandemic. On one hand many people don’t like the video conferencing although for our

economy it seems to have a positive impact. The company Zoom had a 367% revenue growth,

with about 300 million meetings per day. This video conferencing is a level up from previous

things such as traditional conference calls. A lot of employees have felt more connection to

their co-workers while using video conferencing rather than traditional calls. This goes hand in

hand with virtual events and conferences, I have seen peers and family members take part in

these. All of which was weird at first but we learn to adjust to this and make it our new normal.

With this new normal of being completely connected through our computers, phones, etc.

there have been so much increase with cyber security. For instance I remember when Covid

first started my dad’s whole company got hacked and shut down, everyone was sent new

computers to use. This increase in cyber security will only continue to grow.

Another change that many can expect is the continuation of changes in real estate. My

mom works in real estate and I have completely seen the market flip. In states like Vermont,

there have been properties that have been listed and within a day they are in a battle with

different offers. The homes list prices are almost over double the amount they would be in a

regular time. Although I think this could change when Covid becomes less of an issue. I think

instead of it being a seller’s market it will be a buyer’s market. So many people from the cities

have decided to buy a home in a safer place, which has caused an impact on our economy

because of the amount of money these home are selling for.

 For me specifically, I have had a harder time learning online I am much more of a visual

learner. For instance math is completely online and has become a big hassle to learn because

being taught is so different. So much has become different and a lot will stay this way.