A lesson from 2020 & 2021: experiment and challenge more

March 3, 2021

There was nothing stopping us, collectively, from having flexible work (from home) habits in 2019. Or to move many more government and professional services online. But we didn't.

In the UK, the ONS reports that in 2019 about 5% of people worked "mainly from home", but in 2020 lockdown it was around 30%. It more than quintupled! House searches in the outskirts of cities are on the rise, rents in the centre are falling, and many companies are starting to announce different degrees of flexible location of working. Government services, like healthcare provision and social services support, have had to adapt, and the "move to digital" has accelerated.

You may want to move out to the suburbs, or stay just where you are. But it's clear some of the fortunate* workers and professions who can work from home are making significant changes around flexible working.

All of this could have happened 2 years ago, but didn't. Two related reasons spring to mind: lack of experimentation, and aversion to challenging norms. We should do more of both.

Here's another example: in 2014 as a result of a tube strike in London, commuters had to change their routes. Afterwards, an Oxford and Cambridge study showed evidence that some commuters stuck with the changed route which was actually more efficient. People stuck in their ways until they were forced to experiment.

What conclusion should we take? One is that there may be numerous other aspects of our professional (and personal) lives that are ripe for change, for disruption, for innovation. We don't need to wait for external circumstances to force change upon us. When we allow ourselves reasons to do things differently (call our doctors, approve vaccines faster, move to the suburbs, etc), we do just that. We could have done all of this sooner.

The pandemic has been a tragedy on many fronts but perhaps one positive aspect will be to remind us that we can change how we do things - if we're willing to experiment and to challenge our habits. I suggest we do it, and we do it more often. There are many low cost experiments we can do in our lives - they require no commitment, just willingness to try something out and see if it works. There are also many innovations we should think about in public services and society that seem impossible until they happen. What do you want to change? If there's something you can do about it, perhaps you should try it!

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* it's worth keeping in mind that the majority of people who work from home are well paid technical professionals, whereas the majority of working class people in the services and manufacturing sector cannot work from home. Data from the ONS