Future of Work
Stay-at-home orders across the United States have forced radical change on the workplace — far beyond the mass shift to remote work. It’s deepened the financial crunch for primary care physicians, injected chaos into the lives of working parents and pushed industries from restaurants to real estate to reinvent themselves.
(Adela Kang for The Washington Post) Another sign that working from home is here to stay: Companies are hiring executives to lead the virtual work experience. As the pandemic has rapidly accelerated a move to remote work — and widespread work-from-home arrangements are predicted to become permanent over the long-haul — some tech companies are carving out new jobs for executives to act as advocates for virtual workers and think more broadly about a lasting remote future. — ByJena McGregor
James W. McNabb, who has a practice in Mooresville, N.C., is seeing many patients via video these days and has switched to wearing surgical scrubs as a precaution against the coronavirus. (Logan Cyrus for The Washington Post) Doctors who have been scrambling to stay afloat are changing the way they interact with patients and the way they run their businesses. They are shifting large portions of their patients to virtual telehealth visits. And medical associations say some doctors are retiring early or joining larger groups. The pandemic also may be accelerating long-overdue changes in the way doctors are paid. — ByChristopher Rowland
(Adela Kang for The Washington Post) With some employers offering work from home on a permanent basis, and others offering more space and privacy to the workers who do come in, office rents are projected to fall. And those lower prices could make big cities like New York and San Francisco affordable and livable again. — BySteven Pearlstein
(Adela Kang for The Washington Post) The long-term career consequences are unclear, women say. Even if they were encouraged by management to take time off, they worried they would be compared to the fathers — and employees without children. — ByCaroline Kitchener
(Yifan Wu for The Washington Post) The business lunch will one day make a return, business professors, networking experts and professionals agree. But when the ritual resumes, they predict, it might be less frequent simply because workers will spend less time in their offices. — ByEmily Heil
Staff pack food at Zuul in Manhattan on Sept. 15. (Jeenah Moon for The Washington Post) Ghost kitchens, dark kitchens, virtual restaurants, cloud kitchens: The path forward for restaurateurs trying to escape the collapse of their business models is illuminated by a digital glow. The stratospheric rise in online ordering has prompted restaurateurs to chase those delivery dollars in novel ways. — ByLaura Reiley
(Adela Kang for The Washington Post) Expensive tech campuses were designed to attract talent, but what happens when the best benefit is working from home? The corporate headquarters that serve as both branding and workspace, could change too, with ripple effects on their surrounding communities. — ByHeather Kelly
Yifan Wu for The Washington Post A stubbornly optimistic fashion industry believes professionals will emerge from their work-at-home cocoons longing for a happy medium: somewhere between dour, constricting suits and cartoon-printed PJs. — ByRobin Givhan
The deserted cafeteria of the Twitter building in San Francisco in May. (Winni Wintermeyer for The Washington Post) Twitter’s plans for work from home indefinitely have prompted a wave of copycats. But its transformation has been two years in the making — and the rest of America can learn some lessons. — ByElizabeth Dwoskin
(Yifan Wu for The Washington Post) Much of the joy and synchronicity of the work-spouse relationship comes from having a similar mission while dealing with shared challenges (that chatty co-worker in the next cubicle, an unreasonable boss or an over-air-conditioned office). The proximity of an office means it doesn’t take much planning to meet up for coffee, lunch or happy hour. — ByLisa Bonos
