Several of the $Trillion-Dollar tech giants will be disrupted by remote work.

What happened to every company that didn’t adopt computers?
What happened to every company that didn’t implement Software?
What happened to every company that didn’t accept the internet?

What’s about to happen to every company that doesn’t embrace remote work?

wrote “why software is eating the world” a decade ago. What followed was the rise of an industry. Companies that didn’t adapt perished. Others continue to pay the price as they try to catch up on a decade of lost innovation.

Companies are about to be eaten by remote work

9 in 10 people never want to work in an office again full-time. Full-time office companies face the biggest exodus of talent in history. I predict we are about to see the highest period of turnover in history between companies as individuals everywhere optimize their working situation towards what provides them with the highest quality of life.

This is a replay of eCommerce vs. physical stores

Physical retail is no longer economically viable because eCommerce is more convenient, cheaper, and it offers far more flexibility, control, and choice.

Virtual-first companies crush office-first companies for the same reason. Every office becomes a millstone around the neck of companies that stops them from succeeding.

In a knowledge economy, companies are only as strong as their talent. Talent is demanding remote work and the number of people who want it will explode post-Covid.

Millions of people have only experienced pandemic remote work
Normal remote is 100X better than pandemic remote

As things open up and we begin to emerge from Covid enforced work from home — lockdowns, home-schooling, not being able to travel, missing friends; generally not living the life we choose — the benefits of remote increase and the number of people who want remote work, and the amount of remote work that they want, will explode.

The data emerging around amounts of remote work people want today should be viewed as the base estimate.

9 in 10 people never wanting to work in an office again-full time

7 in 10 people wanting to work remotely 3+ days per week

5 in 10 people say they’ll quit their job if they don’t get remote

4 in 10 people wanting to work remotely full-time

Having to attend an office any number of days a week dilutes the benefits of remote

• can’t live anywhere
• can’t travel regularly
• schedule is still fixed

Remote work works

There is no putting that genie back in the bottle. Not seeing this is strategic suicide for companies.

Companies everywhere face the ‘remote work dilemma’

If you’re less remote than your competitors you’ll bleed your most talented people to them until it kills your business. You lose because they’re more talented and efficient. They win simply by giving their people what they want.

The competition breeds a race to become remote and then become increasingly remote. The infrastructure to setup, support and scale your remote team becomes essential.

Remote work is the biggest workplace revolution in history. It finally allows us to evolve past the industrial revolution standard of a standardized production line working day. Instead of work being designed for the collective, it becomes personalized to the individual, with each person empowered to work to the schedule that suits their living conditions.

Parents able to drop their kids at school. Carers able to look after others. Anyone with a health condition or impairment that makes the office impossible. Access to opportunity decentralized.

Remote isn’t just about the future of work, remote work is a bridge to a higher quality of life. It’s an answer to many of the societal and demographic challenges we face.

It won’t always be easy. There is a huge responsibility on the shoulders of the leaders of this space to ensure a version of remote emerges that is equitable to all. There is a lot of work to do, and in many ways, this is still day 1 for remote work. There is a lot to figure out.

Remote work should be a quality of life upgrade for an entire generation.

It should empower us to spend more time doing the things that make us happiest, being free to live where we want and spend more time with the people we love most. All while doing the best work of our lives.

Whether that happens remains to be seen.

Companies that refuse to adapt don’t make it through this decade.