The 2020s are the Remote Work decade.
Remote work has the potential to be the biggest quality of life upgrade in work history.
A few predictions of what is likely to emerge
1. 🤖Personal RPA: robotic process automation will transform work for individuals.
No-code tools that enable workers to built bots that automate menial parts of their roles will be huge
2. 🚀 UI-Less Tech: friction while working remotely is one of the biggest communication problems for remote
Instant communication which isn’t distracting, disrupting or about surveillance will be super important
3. 💀 Death of HQ: the office is dead but offices will persist. They’ll be used less frequently then hardly at all
Co-working, subscription clubs, will emerge that let workers who prefer that mode of work to operate from there
4. 🌉 City Unbundling: the allure of the city has been eroded by technology. You can easily spend time there without living there
Cost of living has made them irrational. Modern time-shares for city living, city services being distributed are inevitable in
5. 🧰 Vertical Tools: @NotionHQ, @LoomHQ, @zoom_us etc. are incredible horizontal products that do nearly anything
Vertical products that do one thing, operating around a constraint that looks like a feature, will explode to prominence
Meetings, async & culture big opportunities
6. 🙋♂️ Presence: tools that provide an estimate of when you should expect a response will become big
These will measure the tasks your team are doing and use this to set expectations, allowing teams to escalate more easily when necessary
7. 🚐 Remote Living: Work from anywhere RVs will become huge business
Associated business parks and services will spring up. This will happen even more rapidly as self driving tech emerges
Expect a @Tesla product in this space
8. 🏠 WFH Dominance: the majority of workers will work from home a majority of the time by the end of this decade
Employers will be responsible for ensuring the health and safety of teams operating at home
9. 💫 WFH Experience: offices have emerged to provide incredible experiences inside some companies. Lunches, launderettes, child care
Companies will differentiate in this domain rapidly. The remote culture and experience a company offers will be a massive attraction for workers
10. ⚖️ Lifework Balance: massive increases in part-time and freelance work
A recognition that we no longer have to sacrifice work for living, we can organize work around our lives
11. ❤️ Family Reconnections: modern living tears families apart. The search for opportunity typically means relocation
Remote will see huge numbers of people return home, leading to more time with friend and family
12. 🧶 Hobby Renaissance: commuting and city living leave no freedom to do the things we are most passionate about
Working remotely allows us to surf or ski before work, travel more frequently, develop new passions
13. 🎳 Company Social Networks: stronger corporate social channels, think company specific linkedins, that help develop a cohesive sense of connection between team mates
Stripe have a version of this which will likely be replicated/become more widespread.
14. 🤝 Relationships Reimagined: closest social contact decided by your boss’s HR policies is bad
Leads to shallow superficial relationships because the only thing you have in common is your employers bottom line
Tools that inspire deeper new & existing relationships will be huge
15. 💰 Payment Preferences: workers will have the power to shift the currency they receive payment in at the touch of a button
Fractional ownership of their company over salary will become an option
16. 🏇 Venture Collectives: communities of founders, makers and operators will find one another and build tools to solve the problems they are facing
These teams will be uniquely placed to do this as they’ll be collections of people operating at the cutting edge of innovation
17. 👨👩👧👦 Community Led SaaS: as no-code continues to grow, tech is barely a barrier
Communities become the moat important most a company has
18. 🤖 E-founders: digital CEOs of companies will emerge in the next 3 years
A unicorn within 5, likely a social network
19. 🎟 Remote Visa: small nations coming together in order to attract remote workers at different stages of the year
Huge opportunity to synchronise education to enable families to be more fluid in their locations
20. 🏡 Co-working Homes: micro co-working spaces on every street, a decentralized WeWork that comes with all the amenities
21. ✈️ Remote Retreats: purpose built destinations that allow for entire companies to fly into a campus for a synchronous week
Likely staffed with facilitators and educators who train staff of how to maximize effectiveness
22. 👩🏫 Democratize Coaching: everyone who want to will have access to a coach. This will help people perform and optimize
Companies will provide these to team, remote focussed coaches will be incredibly
23. 💣 Hybrid Implosion: the worst of both worlds because it dilutes the benefits of remote or office work
The maximization of the negatives of each mode will mean that hybrid companies are the least successful of the 3 options: remote, office, hybrid
24. 🗣 Synchronous Rejection: for too long we’ve accepted disruption and distraction as an excuse for collaboration and communication
Most knowledge working jobs don’t have to be synchronous, productivity is detrimentally effected when they are
25. 🛠 Tool Experts: VP of Notion, Head of Figma, Firstbase Manager
The tools needed to effectively work remotely will lead to deep specialists inside organization who optimize the use of that product for that teams needs
26. ⛔️ Meeting Death: wasting 2 hours travelling to a meeting will end. The benefits of in-person are eroded by the benefits you get of not travelling
Conferences and quarterly networking events will becomes more important for cultivating in-person relationships
27. 😄 Happier People: modern office working has led to the deepening of major societal issues
People will find meaning alongside work by depending on the social relationships of work far less
28. 🌪 Hyper-Turnover: we are about to live through the highest period of turnover between companies in history
Workers will reorganize rapidly, choosing the workplace that suits their working style best
29. 📈 Quality of Life: disposable income will increase. It no longer makes sense to live in a high-cost of living city with a reliatively low quality of life
People will live close enough to cities to go into them 1-3 times a month. Rapid mass transit becomes very important
30. 🏦 Third Space: Office and Working from Home will be joined by somewhere close by that a number of people will use
Supermarkets or local bank branches should emerge as a convenient ubiquitous location option — if they are smart
31. ⏰ Asynchronous Work: Offices are instantaneous gratification distraction factories where synchronous work makes it impossible to get stuff done
Tools that enable asynchronous work are the most important thing globally remote teams need. A lot of startups will try to tackle this
32. ⚽️ Hobbie Renaissance: Remote working will lead to a rise in people participating in hobbies and activities which link them to people in their local community
This will lead to deeper, more meaningful relationships which overcome societal issues of loneliness and issolation
33. 🚜 Rural Living: World-class people will move to smaller cities, have a lower cost of living & higher quality of life
These regions must innovate quickly to attract that wealth. Better schools, faster internet connections are a must
34. 🌐 Constant Presence: Asynchronous work lets you have the issolation to do deep work but it’s not always required
Communication solutions which enable presence, like an open mic while gaming, will become more compelling
35. 👨🔬 Bad Tech: Remote will grow so popular so quickly that it will attract people who have no interest in it other than greed — like blockchain/crypto in 2017
Their lack of understanding of remote work will lead to them replicating the bad parts of office working remotely
36. 🤬 Remote Rejection: Certain demographics and generations will reject the transition. Their benefit — that everyone in the office is like them and it’s easier for them to progress — will be their reason
Companies that don’t transition will be left behind
37. 🌍 Diversity & Inclusion: The most diverse and inclusive teams in history will emerge rapidly
Companies who embrace it have a first-mover advantage to attract great talent globally
Companies who don’t will lose their best people to their biggest competitors
38. ✅ Output focus: Time will be replaced as the main KPI for judging performance by productivity and output. Great workers will be the ones who deliver what they promise consistently
Advancement decisions will be decided by capability rather than who you drink beer with after work
39. 🚘 1 Car Households: The rise of remote will have tremendous indirect benefits towards slashing pollution
Families will benefit from only needing one car slashing cost of living, potentially cutting commuting a lot
40. 💰 Private Equity: the hottest trend of the next decade for private equity will see them purchase companies, make them remote-first
The cost saving in real-estate at scale will be eye-watering. The productivity gains will be the final nail in the coffin for the office
41. ☠️ The death of Coworking: The last recession was the beginning of the end for bespoke vanity office
The next recession will spell the same thing for co-working spaces
The rise of remote will mean a majority of the 255m desk jobs globally are remote by 2029
42. 💘 Talent Wars: Remote work is the perk that is most sought after by workers globally. This will only increase
Remote-first companies will disrupt every incumbent who doesn’t/isn’t able to make that transition
43. ✍️ Written Communication: the most important skill for workers to cultivate. Reading and understanding also key
Cultural issues arising from misunderstanding meaning behind the way people write becomes a big issue
44. 😴 Working Too Much: Companies worry that the workers won’t work enough when operating remotely.
The opposite will be true and become a big problem
Remote workers burning out because they work too much will have to be addressed
45. 👀 Distraction Avoidance: The home office will skyrocket in popularity. A space at home to get away a necessity
There will be an explosion of people purchasing standalone units for their backyards for this.
46. 🌍 Global Citizens: Individuals with no national attachment become ubiquitous. Challenges of paying people cross border due to compliance and legal issues slowly fade away as the world becomes more borderless
47. ✈️ Retreat Destinations: Global hubs will pop-up that cater to remote teams getaways
Resort-like escapes with a deep focus on team building, collaboration, planning, and efficiency. Hotels with facilitators /coaches who assist teams for the duration
48. ❤️ Life-Work Balance: The rise of remote will lead to people re-prioritizing what is important to them
Organizing your work around your life will be the first noticeable switch. People realizing they are more than there job will lead to a deeper purpose in other areas
49. 💹 Fractional Ownership: remote work will make advancement less important/more difficult
Rather than reward being a better title, fractional ownership could enable workers to be more easily rewarded with ownership of their companies/make the market for equity more liquid
50. 💩 Bullshit Tasks: The need to pad out your 8 hour day will evaporate, replaced by clear tasks and responsibilities
Workers will do what needs to be done rather than wasting their trying to look busy with the rest of the office
51. 🌏 Decentralized Opportunity: Remote work will do more for inequality than anything in history. Workers everywhere will find the best, highest paying job
The fear that this will depreciate wages will be unfounded as companies will need more talent than exists
52. ♿️ Accessible Jobs: Remote work will make work more accessible than it has ever been
Nothing will stop workers getting the job they deserve because there will be no obstacles in their way
53. 🛠️ Remote Tools: Companies operating remotely now will have created tools every remote team on the planet needs @Zapier, @Gitlab, @GitHub, @FirstbaseHQ will spawn Mafias who take these internal tools and create startups around them
Several $Billion Startups to emerge this way
54. 🤹♀️ Multiple Jobs: The gig/freelancer economy will evolve. Remote work allows workers to have multiple employers
The difference in terms of reliability and consistency will be huge, eradicating doubt, lead to better conditions for workers
55. 📈 Remote JobS: There won’t be enough remote jobs for at least the next 5 years. World-class people wil drive the change
They will demand more remote opportunities and realize the influence they have to make their companies give it to them
56. 💾 Remote Infrastructure: The focus on the sexy won’t change any time soon
There is a missing half of remote work that’s neglected because it’s difficult, boring, and unsexy
It will be the most critical. Until that’s solved remote teams won’t scale globally easily
57. 🎴No Code: Will grows to dominate creation @webflow, @figmadesign, amongst others will democratize access unlike ever before. Remote workers who have an area of expertise and one of these broad skills will be unicorns at first before everyone else realizes the need
58. 🤗 Social Contact: Loneliness, disconnection neither improved or worsened by remote work
A number of people’s main social contact comes at work, with people decided by their bosses hiring policy
Remote work must lead to deeper more meaningful relationships with friends/family
59. 🧘♂️Health & Wellbeing: A lack of commute will give workers 25 extra days a year to do other things
Workers will exploit the freedom they have to organize things more freely in their day. Afternoon runs, morning meditation, 2 things a lot of people I know now do
60. 👶 Child Connection: Hearing your child’s first laugh, seeing their first steps won’t just be in the memory of one parent
Being there, feeling like your children know you. Dropping them at school each day. Small things that remote gives
61. 🎫 Visa Issues: The problem with workers having to leave a job due to the expiry of their visas will no longer exist
Companies won’t accept losing their best people simply because their right to be in a specific country expires
Remote will be an easy option
62. 🌎 International Talent: Great for developing countries. International companies will access to talent globally
Access to opportunity will be decentralized
63. 👑 Job Title Death: What your job title is will become more irrelevant as remote work becomes more prominent
What you do, what you're capable of, the tools you can wield will enable you to do jobs that break you free from the shackles of a title
64. 🛠️ Universal Tools: Global workforce that understands and the same SAAS services means technical debt for training =$0
Companies add another seat to SaaS platform and worker uses the same tool they would use if they were in an office or with a different company
65. 👴 Older Workforce: Boomers may be standing in the way of the remote work revolution happening quickly, believe least in its benefits, lack the trust for it to emerge
Ironically, remote work will allow them to work far more easily later in life
Remote work is the biggest workplace revolution in history and nothing will deliver a higher quality of life increase in the next decade than this. Workers having more flexibility to decide their work schedule, able to operate when they are most productive rather than a fixed day, enables a far better future of work than the one we currently experience. Organizing work around your life is a huge transition with major implications. Gone is the requirement to beg your bosses permission to go to an appointment, it is the ability to drop and pick your child up from work every day with time in the afternoon to go for your recharging run.
Being handcuffed to an office and expected to live in a high cost of living city with a low quality of life is a remnant of the industrial revolution. The devolution of offices into almost factory-like conditions as distraction factory adult kids clubs is complete. The office has become the worst place on the planet to get the isolation and focus you need to do deep work.
Make no mistake, remote work is exploding to prominence right now. We are living through the inflection point today. Shortly, workers will realize their power and influence to demand it or vote with their feet.