Big offices may be in the past, says Barclays boss
One can only hope that this change has a widespread effect on the industry. As I have been saying for more than a decade, the likelihood is that businesses in the 21st century will go from hundreds of thousands of employees to thousands or even hundreds of employees. The first step would be to vacate the incredibly expensive high rise office buildings in places like New York or London and let workers work from wherever they wanted. Yes, that might require some occasional travel for workers in the new diaspora, but this is not particularly difficult in the modern age with teleconferencing and low-cost air travel. The second step is to convert employees to independent contractors. The final step is to minimize the number of employees of the business to the absolute minimum while expanding the number of independent contractors. This will require an increasing amount of computer control of workflow, combined with algorithms to determine quality of the independent contractor's (IC) work product and continually negotiate pay with the IC The demographers over at Newgeograpy have noted that many people living in the cities want to leave. The first step would be to move to the suburbs. The second step would be to move to the exurbs. The final step would be to move to rural lands. The benefit to the businesses is lower cost and the elimination of moving and other similar expenses. The benefit to the employee is greater control over the work environment, lower cost of living, the ability to live where you wish not where the workplace is located. The progressive left will be strongly opposed to these changes. The current system of highly regulated business employment and unionization of employees benefits the Democratic Party and the political left. A transition out of this system will be seen as a problem for the left politically and financially, so they will fight this change. In the end, because both the employers and employees want this change, they left will lose the fight. The article below points out interrelated issues and why so many young people want these changes. Life and Work in a time of Pandemic
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