When talking about remote work today, there will be a range of opinions going around. Some see it as a great positive, removing the commute, saving time, and promoting comfort. Others see it as a tool to slack off and a hindrance to efficiency. Others yet see it as another step in the social isolation of society. 

Interestingly, all of these people are right, to an extent. Employees, by and large, love remote work, 98% wanting to work remotely at least some of the time. There’s more family time, money saved on gas, and less time wasted. Yet that doesn’t mean that remote work has only positives.

Real concerns around inefficiency and communication have been raised and studied. In terms of inefficiency, the results are unclear, with some industries being more or less suited to remote work. Yet the isolation and miscommunication felt and experienced during remote work is much more undeniable. 

Keeping all of these perspectives in mind, it’s shocking to hear that remote work is steadily dropping in use. Ever since 2020 remote work has become less common every year. Although the reasons behind this are less a reflection of public mentality than an after effect of the pandemic. 

2020 represented the peak of remote work as the pandemic reached full swing. Slowly many businesses have been tapering off this since then. It seems this trend will only continue until some sort of equilibrium is reached. This is the point where remote work will really be put to the test. As technology advances will it increase in use, or is it simply a tool reserved for tech industries and the pandemic? Now only time can tell.