The Coronavirus Pandemic has changed the way that people live and work. Some of America’s largest corporations have transitioned their workforces to operate from home. Advances in networking and cloud computing made this possible, and the “new normal” could become a permanent fixture.

Google has set a precedent by announcing that most of its workforce will stay at home until at least September 2021.

Google CEO Announces Major Workforce Changes

Google told employees earlier this year that they could work from home until July 2021. That date has now been pushed back to September.

Even when Google employees return to the office, they won’t be doing it full time. According to an internal email from CEO Sundar Pichai, the company will adopt a flexible workweek where employees will return to the office for up to three days of every week for collaboration and face to face meetings. The rest of the time, employees can choose to remain at home.

Google is one of the largest companies to take such an approach, but it isn’t the only one.

Dropbox, a smaller but growing technology company that offers cloud storage solutions, has announced that it is aiming to have almost all its 3,000 employees working from home for the foreseeable future. Employees would only need to go into the office for team-building activities and collaborative projects that can’t be achieved through virtual meetings, email, and online chats.

Facebook is also planning something similar with CEO Mark Zuckerberg announcing earlier this year that half of its workforce would be primarily working from home by 2030.

How Will This Change the Face of Modern Business?

Remote workforces are more agile. This has been evident in recent months with many companies able to stay fully operational despite restrictions on travel.

However, the change could create a divide. Many businesses can’t work remotely, especially those that are primarily customer-facing. Smaller companies don’t have access to the same technology or funding that makes it possible to maintain a remote workforce. Provisioning laptop and desktop computers for employees at home can be expensive. There’s also a risk when it comes to asset management.

With the rollout of Coronavirus vaccines now ongoing, companies may not need remote workforces beyond 2021. Employees may even begin to push back, as working from home can be impractical, and there are costs like electricity and internet access that are passed on to employees.

Remote workforces may even attract legislative scrutiny in the coming years with issues of compliance surrounding workforce conditions. Any investor or indeed anyone working remotely will need to follow any developments closely in the coming months.