Why working from home will stick

Jose Maria Barrero, Nicholas Bloom and Steven Davis

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: COVID-19 drove a mass social experiment in working from home (WFH). We survey more than 30,000 Americans over multiple waves to investigate whether WFH will stick, and why. Our data say that 20 percent of full workdays will be supplied from home after the pandemic ends, compared with just 5 percent before. We develop evidence on five reasons for this large shift: better-than-expected WFH experiences, new investments in physical and human capital that enable WFH, greatly diminished stigma associated with WFH, lingering concerns about crowds and contagion risks, and a pandemic-driven surge in technological innovations that support WFH. We also use our survey data to project three consequences: First, employees will enjoy large benefits from greater remote work, especially those with higher earnings. Second, the shift to WFH will directly reduce spending in major city centers by at least 5-10 percent relative to the pre-pandemic situation. Third, our data on employer plans and the relative productivity of WFH imply a 5 percent productivity boost in the post-pandemic economy due to re-optimized working arrangements. Only one-fifth of this productivity gain will show up in conventional productivity measures, because they do not capture the time savings from less commuting.

Keywords: Covid-19; USA; productivity; technological innovations; coronavirus (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J01 R14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 72 pages
Date: 2021-08-13
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hrm, nep-ore and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (193)

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/113912/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Why working from home will stick (2021)
Working Paper: Why working from home will stick (2021)
Working Paper: Why Working from Home Will Stick (2021)
Working Paper: Why Working from Home Will Stick (2021)
Working Paper: Why Working From Home Will Stick (2020)
Working Paper: Why Working From Home Will Stick (2020)
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