That’s the line from a recent podcast I heard talking about the economy. It’s a widely reported figure from lots of sources, and it checks out. Barbers, carpenters, and surgeons need to go into a place of business. Programmers, call center workers, and video editors could do their work from home or most anywhere.
We know this is true practically, because once the pandemic started zillions of people who were going to offices stopped going in–but kept working. And now with new variants and some school closures and other issues some of those zillions are still working from home. And apparently, a lot of managers (and employees) report increased productivity as a result. [1]
But this isn’t about the pandemic. And it’s not even about working from home. It’s about something we could have done, all along. In this case, it’s working from home: which allows us to get more done, and also, something most people prefer. [2]
So why did it take a global health emergency to relocate people from looking at computer screens in offices to looking at computer screens on their kitchen tables? Why didn’t we do that before?
A lack of leadership.
One of the many reasons I’m running for Congress is because I think we need a new kind of leadership. And while of course, I want to advocate for people working from wherever they can get work done, this is only an example.
But it’s one that’s been obvious to those zillions of people for ages. And what’s been obvious to all of us as well is that we don’t get much out of our elected leaders.
It’s time for another obvious change. It’s time to vote for someone who is genuinely paying attention.
[1] https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/15259-working-from-home-more-productive.html
