Vaccine May Not Bring Americans Back to Offices

We are now ten months into a pandemic that has changed work-life balance for a lot of people. And many Americans say they are doing well in their home offices and dining room workstations. Most want to continue working from home after the pandemic.

Several kinds of businesses that had depended on office workers may be affected¹. For instance, many office workers attended weekly happy hours or paid for their clothing to be dry cleaned.

These are the findings of new studies published by the Pew Research Center and the University of Chicago's Becker Friedman Institute.

The Pew study of 5,800 working adults in mid-October found that the change has been easy for most. They have remained productive². And, on balance, it has given people more control over how they use their time. That is different from the common ideas that home offices are full of technical problems and family distractions⁴.

Not everyone is happy, of course. More younger workers reported trouble keeping up the desire to work. And parents found it more difficult to work without distractions since many schools are closed due to the pandemic.

But even so, the Pew study found, the move to working from home "has been relatively⁵ easy for many employed adults."

Kim Parker, Juliana Horowitz and Rachel Minkin are Pew researchers. They wrote that the fact that people are doing well working from home may mean a big shift in how the workforce⁶ operates in the future.

In the coming months, the coronavirus vaccine⁷ may force U.S. companies to make a few decisions. These include whether to keep renting office space, let people work where they choose, or make a plan that includes both.

It will also answer questions about whether the changes in behavior will stay or go once the risk of being in public has eased.

Here to stay

The study published by the Becker Friedman Institute also found that work from home "will likely stick." And it estimated that maybe 22 percent of all workdays will be "supplied from home" after the pandemic.

That is a major shift and, in the future, could affect office building owners as well as eating places. Some experts say that the pandemic's "mass social experiment" will cut spending in major city centers as much as 10 percent permanently⁸. They include Nick Bloom of Stanford University, Steven Davis of the University of Chicago and Jose Barrero of Mexico's Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo.

Why permanent?

The idea of ignoring work responsibilities from home has disappeared. The technology for performing these duties has improved quickly. And companies and employees have adapted, the research found. Firms have changed their technological⁹ set-ups to help workers do their jobs. And the average worker, the study found, has spent about $660 on equipment for their home setup.

Out of 15,000 people who replied from May to October, most said they were as productive at home, if not more so, than they were in their office. And they would like to keep working from home at least two days a week in the future.

The dollar value of that is meaningful. Nearly half of workers said the ability to stay home two or three days a week was worth up to 15 percent of their pay.

The two studies shared other common conclusions, including that the ability to work from home is not shared by everyone.

Who gets to enjoy work from home? The University of Chicago group found it is mostly men, higher earners, and highly-educated workers.

Words in This Story

happy hour – n. a time at a bar when drinks are sold at a lower price than usual

distraction³ – n. something that makes it difficult to think or pay attention

shift – n. a change in position or direction

rent – v. to pay money in return for being able to use something that belongs to someone else (gerund: renting)

adapt – v. to change your behavior so that it is easier to live in a particular place or situation

1 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

2 productive   

adj.能生产的，有生产价值的，多产的

参考例句：

• We had a productive meeting that solved some problems.我们开了一个富有成效的会议，解决了一些问题。
• Science and technology are part of the productive forces.科学技术是生产力。

3 distraction   

n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注，不能有丝毫分神。
• Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。

4 distractions   

n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 )；娱乐，消遣；心烦意乱；精神错乱

参考例句：

• I find it hard to work at home because there are too many distractions. 我发觉在家里工作很难，因为使人分心的事太多。
• There are too many distractions here to work properly. 这里叫人分心的事太多，使人无法好好工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

6 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

7 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

8 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

9 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。