Fighting Coronavirus | Can We Ditch the Office Forever? | 13

American Innovations

Wondery

Steven Johnson, History, Kids & Family, Education For Kids, Science

4.6 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2020

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Most CEOs hated the idea of employees working from home. But when the coronavirus hit, they didn’t have a choice. They sent their white-collar workers home before they’d even learned how to mute themselves on Zoom. What happened next surprised everyone. Productivity shot through the roof. Now, companies don’t know whether they should bring workers back to the office, even if they can do it safely.

We’ve invited Clive Thompson, fresh off his piece for The New York Times Magazine about remote work, to talk us through this rapid culture shift. What, exactly, makes remote work so productive? What do we lose when we work in isolation? What new technology will emerge from this moment? And how many of us will ever voluntarily do the 9-to-5 again?

Links:

Clive Thompson, “What if Working From Home Goes On … Forever?”, New York Times Magazine:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/09/magazine/remote-work-covid.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

And check out Clive's interview on The Next Big Idea about his book "Coders": https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/coders-the-invisible-architects-that-shape-our-lives/id1482067226?i=1000455369916

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to American Innovations,
0:03.6	Add Free on Amazon Music, download the app today.
0:07.0	From Wondry, I'm Stephen Johnson, and this is Fighting Coronavirus.
0:30.0	The Coronavirus pandemic forced a significant portion of the American workforce to immediately
0:46.3	shift from the office to remote work, largely with no forethought, no planning.
0:52.6	Workers with kids had to juggle board meetings and homeschooling.
0:56.2	Teachers had to come up with remote lesson plans.
0:58.5	Most people had to learn how to win clients over Zoom.
1:01.6	It's been traumatic, but also enlightenment.
1:05.1	Before COVID-19, many companies hesitated to embrace remote work, fearing their employees
1:10.5	might slack off.
1:12.5	Instead, we've learned that working from home has clear advantages.
1:16.5	It allows people to avoid long commutes, find a better work life balance, and maybe,
1:21.4	most surprisingly, be more productive.
1:24.2	But what isn't clear yet is what we lose when we're no longer all under one roof.
1:29.6	One thing that is clear is that office life is unlikely to go back to, quote, unquote,
1:34.2	normal anytime soon.
1:36.0	This week, we're digging into the future of office work with writer Clive Thompson, who
1:39.9	just wrote an excellent piece for the New York Times magazine called, What If Working From
1:44.0	Home Goes On Forever.
1:53.2	In a four-part series, The Generation Y Podcast unravels the story of Khalif Browder, a young
1:58.5	boy falsely accused of stealing a backpack and held it Recker's Island for three years
	...

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