How to build a future world of work we’ll want

The pandemic has had unforeseen consequences. Sending office workers home in the first lockdown sparked a 2,000% rise in Zoom use (pcpro.link/316zoom) and a rush on ergonomic chairs. But what’s coming next could be a utopian world where tech eases employment by working for us – or a dystopian horror of monitoring software and RSI.

“I’ve heard it said many times over the past few months that lockdown has accelerated discussion about flexible working by 20 years, and there’s a lot of truth in that,” said Jane Parry, director of research for human resources management and organisational behaviour at the University of Southampton. “But the next challenge is going to be harnessing what we’ve learnt so that it can be used effectively to manage work differently. The first lockdown was rapid and about finding ways to cope; the employers that survive and thrive are going to be the ones who run with this learning and make it work for them.”

“But the next challenge is going to be harnessing what we’ve learnt so that it can be used effectively to manage work differently”

But some companies haven’t been able to let go of outdated ideas like presenteeism, with PwC and Barclays sparking headlines for their use of monitoring software. If we go down that road, in a few years