Connectivity ‘Unsung Hero’ of Future of Work, Deloitte Reports

The pandemic revealed that a remotely connected digital workplace "is a viable solution for companies to keep operating, and a feasible alternative to the traditional office space, at least in the short term,” reported Deloitte Wednesday. The COVID-19 global health crisis likely will have “a lasting impact on businesses and employees," it said. A U.S. census study in June found a third of workers expect to "never return" to daily commutes, it said. A Deloitte survey in the financial sector found 77% expect to work from home “regularly” post-pandemic. Connectivity is the “unsung hero of the future of work,” said Deloitte. The mass shift to "distributed working" during the pandemic "has proven the agility of existing networks and IT infrastructures to deal with increased demand.” But connectivity platforms “need to improve, and many employees still lack the digital skills to work effectively remotely," it said. Deloitte and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found 90% of respondents “believe yearly upskilling is required to enable employees to keep up,” it said. “Access to technology is unequally distributed across geographies, economic classes and education levels,” said Deloitte. “The high-speed, low-latency connectivity required to support a hybrid work environment simply isn’t available to many communities.”