How Remote Work Has Evolved Human Consciousness

I don’t mean to sound cold-hearted, but the pandemic has brought us some silver linings. We’re spending more time with our families. We’re finding new creative outlets and making our way back to old passions. We’re walking more and driving less.

But you probably already know all of that. There’s another bright side that no one seems to talk about: Because of the remote-work revolution, companies trust their employees more than ever before, and I think that’s a big step for the evolution of the human species.

Call me crazy. That’s okay – I’ve been called worse. But bear with me for a moment or two.

Ever since we’ve had such a thing as an “employee”, there has been a divide between the workers (Us) and those who run the show (Them). During the industrial revolution, if you were an employee, owners and managers demanded every drop of your blood, sweat and tears. You had little, if any, say about your working conditions. Do your job, don’t complain, don’t question anything.

Then the workers and labor movements (beginning in the late 19th century) shrunk the gap between Us and Them, gradually bestowing employees with more rights, benefits, and control over how and when they performed their jobs.

Over time, as social mores changed, so did those in the workplace. Starting in the late 1960s, men no longer had to wear suits to the office; women could wear slacks. When the dot-com boom came along, employees gained even more autonomy. Throw on some shorts and a t-shirt of your favorite band, bring your dog to work, and play ping-pong with your boss while he asks for your advice on how the company should be positioned. The relationship between Us and Them became reciprocal, even friendly.

The Internet age also gave you the option to work anywhere, at anytime. That is, at least in theory.

That’s because management (with some exceptions) frowned upon, or straight out prohibited, working from home. They believed employees had to be in the office to “foster collaboration” and “boost productivity”. Besides, you need a “culture” in order for people to support each other and to work in unison toward common goals. And you can only have a culture when everyone walks through the same doors each day.

While there’s some truth in those beliefs, companies weren’t crazy about remote work for one simple reason: They didn’t trust that employees could be their best when sitting on their couches or at their kitchen tables. But the pandemic shifted their mindset; it forced them to shift their mindset. It was either allow people to work from home or go bust.

And look what happened. Companies have realized that a remote workforce isn’t so bad. In fact, it’s pretty good. Zoom, Slack, and other technologies make it easy for employees to collaborate, motivate each other, and remain in constant contact. Companies have cut real estate and operating costs, savings massive amounts of money. With so many work-from-home benefits, many top-flight organizations (like Twitter, Shopify, Upwork, Square and Zillow) are now “embracing a remote-first model”, or becoming a “digital by default company.”

Behind the robotic corporate speak, what they’re really saying is, “We trust that our employees will do a great job, no matter where they sit all day long.” They’ve tacitly acknowledged that the people who work for them aren’t teenagers whose parents left town for the weekend; they are responsible adults. More so, they are professionals who don’t necessarily require an office, a culture, or in-person supervision to do their jobs well, to support their colleagues, and to work together for the greater good.

Evolution is more than coming down from the trees and walking upright, or other physical adaptations. There’s also evolution of human consciousness – “The state of being aware of, and responsive to, one's surroundings.” We’ve figured out we no longer require a 200-year old work paradigm with its requisite walls, desks, conference rooms, and all-you-can-eat snacks. We don’t need gaps between Us and Them. We can do just fine with high-speed Internet and mutual trust.