A seismic shift

Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell says we are witnessing a cultural change in how we conduct business.

Not long after writing my comment last week, I came across this tweet. Chris Herd is founder and CEO of Firstbase, a US business that provides the infrastructure for remote working.

I’m going to summarise what he said here because while his is an American company, and he makes his money from remote-working customers (expect some bias) a lot of what he said is very relatable.

After speaking to 2,000+ companies over the last 12 months about their plans for remote work, he discovered that companies intend to cut their commercial office space by 50%-70%. They will allow every worker to work from home two to four days a week, and come into the office one to two days a week.

About 30% of the companies he talked to are getting rid of the office entirely and going remote-first. Primarily, this lets them hire more talented people, because rather than hiring the best person in a 30-mile radius of the office, they can hire the best person in the world for every role.

And rather than spending $20,000/worker/year on office space they can provide the “best remote setup on the planet” for $2,000/worker/year.

Chris is certainly evangelical about remote working, and while I don’t think the future of business is as extreme as he predicts, I do think that thanks to the pandemic we have set off down a path that we cannot return from.

In a later tweet, Chris Herd said: “Every company will have a ‘head of remote’ within three years.” So, if your business is selling, your sales team need to know how to use the online environment to their advantage.

And it is why Chris Brunsdon’s online course last week was timely, both in terms of content and style.

Do you think I am right? Or am I grossly misguided? Let me know. You can email me or find me on Twitter and LinkedIn.