Reversing Remote Work Would Waste the Benefits of Disruption

We should invest in further boosting the new economy we accidentally sparked during Covid times, rather than trying to preternaturally revive the economy we already destroyed in 2020

During Covid times, so little felt right, that it really stood out for me when any experience actually felt outright good. On a trip to my family's cottage in the Kawarthas last fall, I saw a glimpse of the truly positive change that could come out of all the dystopian nonsense we have been subjected to over the last two years - in a formerly derelict grocery store, in a tiny hamlet near our lake. 

There have always been a few neat small businesses in said hamlet, as well as other nearby small towns and townships - but most of them only thrived seasonally, to cater to cottagers. In addition to being limited, what stayed open after cottagers left was often in bad shape. A good example of this was the local grocery store - it was absolutely disgusting. The few times I ventured to purchase even the most basic of items there (like, an onion - nothing fancy) for convenience (because it's close by), I have always vowed never to return (and rarely have). The produce was rotten, packaged items were long out of date, and the place looked as if it hadn't been cleaned in as long as I have been alive. I always felt bad for the locals, for whom this was their closest option. 

Nevertheless, when my mother and I went into town to visit one of those neat small businesses last fall, we noticed quite a few people going into that same awful grocery store. The outside of the store seemed unchanged - but in my thirtysomething years of going to our cottage, I have never seen so many people in there. We decided to investigate.

The inside of the store was startlingly clean (it had clearly been gutted and refurbished), and its stock had such a great variety of produce, specialty items, and goods from the local community - I was stunned. Both the selection and the demographics in the store that day reflected a commitment to serving both locals and cottagers. There was no doubt this wasn't a seasonal business - it would benefit the community all year long.

This made me think about a conversation I had with the local butcher in another nearby town the previous summer. In July 2020, he told me he had already done more business since March that year (when people fled the city for their cottages amid Covid chaos) than he had ever done in any full year prior.

All of this comes to mind when people like Elon Musk crow about the need to resurrect the rotting corpse of our economy, post-Covid trauma, by bringing people back to the office. As opposed to attempting to preternaturally revive an economy we already destroyed in 2020, I believe it would be more worth the effort to further boost the new economy we accidentally sparked during the past few years. 

Covid turmoil brought little positive development aside from remote work. Such a dramatic change would probably not have been possible without such unprecedented global panic. We would waste the disruption we have already experienced if we did not take advantage of it. 

This was a catalyst for a change that was long overdue, much like when women entered the workforce "temporarily" during World War II. Just as women who were expected to leave their jobs after the war instead fought (and won) for the right to work, people who have experienced the improved quality of life from remote work will be fighting (and winning) to keep it. A societal shift of this magnitude rarely reverses course.

Remote work is particularly likely to be a sticking point in the Canadian context. With the dichotomy of overpriced cities (and suburbs, and exurbs), and so much available land to build on, there are both opportunities and needs aplenty. This is our chance to improve the quality of life for future generations, rather than see it decline. 

We can make life better both for people who earn their living on a Macbook at a cottage, as well as entire neighborhoods that can be built around this new reality. Embracing the dynamic rhythm of days that are no longer focused on commutes and office work will allow us to create more vibrant communities. Business owners and local workers can benefit from this just as much as the laptop class. This is a huge opportunity for us to rethink our entire way of life.

While this can (rightly) be viewed as a loss for cities and a gain for the emerging communities, cities don't have to end up a Detroit-style dystopia in this context either. As of late, cities have largely been focused on appealing to investors and corporations, rather than on being places people want to live. For this reason, we may benefit from clearing out the cities and letting them fail. We would have a chance to rebuild. We can correct past mistakes and insufficient planning. In the long run, we have far more to gain than we have to lose.

Creating a better way for everyone to live - across Canada, across the globe, and across all classes - is what it's all about.

Mayors (who are responsible for making cities into ghost towns in the first place) attempting to scold the public back to downtown offices with such dubious objectives as keeping dry cleaners and hot dog stands afloat are the opposite of inspiring. Even if we already knew it subconsciously, stating outright that the real reason we need to commute to work is mostly just to be cogs in the economic machine makes it feel so much worse. Our old way of life is no longer acceptable to us now that we have experienced a better way. The idea that you have to go into an office to enable corporations and municipalities to avoid adjusting to a new way of doing things is ridiculous - we have no duty to society to remain miserable together.

On the subject of misery, too many people falsely equate remote work with our Covid experience in general. Working from home does not mean you are withdrawing from society. In fact, it frees you up to focus on chosen relationships over work relationships. The way to convince people to do more things in person again is not to force them back to the worst possible way to interact with people.

We bond over fun, not drudgery. Meeting in person only makes sense when it is really necessary - it does no good to come into the office simply because it is Wednesday. There can definitely be value in a well-planned brainstorming session that gets everyone on the same page and excited at the beginning of a project, for example - but once that is done, the vast majority of work and collaboration can easily be done remotely. Results should be our focus, not habits. Results in the sense of what we produce, but also in terms of how happy we are in our lives.

I view this as an opportunity to extract a positive outcome from the gig economy. Work is a valuable commodity and people want to have more control over when and where they sell it. If remote work is a “perk” rather than the new standard, only those with enough clout or bargaining power will have a better life - so "supporting" businesses that rely on the office actually supports a reduced standard of living for all but those who can avoid it. This is why it feels so disingenuous to pitch a “return to office” as somehow being for the greater good - embracing a new way of doing things offers far more potential in that regard.

So what might this new way of doing things look like, exactly?

Newly revitalized small communities, like those near my family's cottage, could benefit from more sustainable change. Suddenly, their vibrancy wouldn't depend on a single industry, resource, or factory. In this way, they will be less likely to devolve into the sort of discarded shell that the old grocery store I described embodied. Instead, they can rely on the people who live in these communities, and the many opportunities that are available to them all over the world - while keeping the benefits local. This will allow small towns to maintain a Gilmore Girls vibe, rather than revert to Deliverance.

What are the implications for cities? Here in Canada, we have the opportunity to finally start looking at them less as a place to commute to and from - and more as a great place to live, and an exciting place to visit. People lamenting the reluctance to return to old habits, such as taking transit during the week, should note that the same reports they're scouring show transit ridership is already back to about 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels on weekends. Rather than wasting so much effort on getting people back when they don’t want to be, we could redirect that energy towards further cultivating what really still draws people to cities, and what else could be possible within them.

The lesson I learned from our response to Covid is that anything can change at any time. This is often only held back by people who are stuck in the usual way of doing things - for better or worse. Instead of repeating the mistakes we made in the past, let's make use of what we experienced to make things better. Your work is part of your life. It is not your entire life - there is more to us than what we do. As I head back to my family’s cottage again, for the first time this year - I am looking forward to seeing what else the burgeoning communities surrounding it have built, and how much their lives have improved as a result. A negative experience can drive positive change - and I, for one, choose to embrace it.