[Jjinbit] Memories of Remote Work?..."Still Ongoing"

Remote Work Increased 10-Fold During Pandemic
Protests Against Remote Work Reduction Continue in US
Work Style Changes Still Underway

Editor's Note[Jjinbit] is a shortened form of 'Jung Hyunjin's Business Trend' and 'Real Business Trend,' a segment that showcases trends in the changing nature of work.

"It feels like dragging remote work that has long gone far away back to us."

A recent comment from a ‘Jjinbit’ reader made me think deeply. It meant that remote work, which is now hard to encounter in daily life, can only be seen in articles. He said that as the COVID-19 situation ended, company policy required him to come back to the office. Unless another pandemic breaks out, widespread remote work seems to have become nothing more than a ‘memory’ that is difficult to continue.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

From the 1st of this month, the mandatory isolation for COVID-19 positive cases was lifted. After 3 years and 4 months, we have fully entered the endemic phase. Now, even if you contract COVID-19, you can go to work. The government said it would create a culture of resting when sick, but without mandatory isolation, office workers feel pressured and express regret.

However, remote work is unlikely to remain just a memory. The number of office workers doing remote or telework in Korea increased from 95,000 in 2019 to 960,000 last year. Although a decrease is expected as we enter the endemic phase, it is still uncertain whether the number, which increased more than tenfold, will completely return to pre-pandemic levels.

Among the ‘Nekakura-bae’ (Naver, Kakao, Coupang, LINE, Baedal Minjok), companies most desired by students for employment, four out of five still operate remote or flexible work as their basic work system, except Kakao, which declared ‘Office First’ earlier this year. On Blind, an anonymous community platform for office workers, search terms related to remote work have consistently remained around 10,000 per month this year.

The governments of Korea and Japan have also promoted remote and telework as solutions to low birthrate issues. In March, the Korean government announced plans to establish legal grounds to expand remote work during childcare periods. The Japanese government is preparing an enforcement ordinance to introduce a system allowing workers with children under three years old to work remotely.

On the 31st of last month (local time), hundreds of technical and managerial employees gathered in front of Amazon’s Seattle headquarters to protest the reduction of remote work. The trigger was the mandatory requirement to come to the office at least three times a week starting last month. On the 2nd, Meta sent a message to employees requiring them to come to the office three times a week starting in September. Despite waves of layoffs, voices wishing for remote work remain strong. In the U.S., one in three office workers still works remotely.

Wall Street is anxious about the ongoing absence of office workers. The expectation that employees will not return to offices is shaking the U.S. commercial real estate market. Recently, experts including Arpit Gupta, a professor at New York University, forecast that the market value of offices in New York City will decrease by 44% by 2029 due to changes in work styles. This is a warning that changes in work methods will not end soon.

The dictionary definition of ‘memory’ is ‘to look back and think about past events.’ Remote work, however, is still ‘in progress’ and cannot simply be called a past event. It will be interesting to see what changes the experiences we have accumulated over more than three years will bring in the endemic era.