Changing workplace geographies in the COVID-19 crisis

Darja Reuschke,Alan Felstead

doi:10.1177/2043820620934249

Darja Reuschke, Alan Felstead

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/2043820620934249

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Abstract

COVID-19 has fundamentally changed workplace geographies with large proportions of people working at home during the ‘Great Lockdown’. This commentary argues that working at home has emerged as a key policy response and one in which inequalities are embedded. We outline the nature of these social and spatial inequalities by examining existing evidence and data for the Global North, and consider some of the economic and policy challenges ahead.

Highlights

With tight restrictions on the movement of people and closure of businesses, the COVID-19 public health crisis has quickly developed into an economic crisis
This commentary focusses on the socially and spatially uneven distribution of the ability to work at home and the economic consequences of the ‘new’ homeworking phenomenon in the context of countries in the Global North
While privileged residential living will have facilitated high job satisfaction reported in previous studies (Reuschke, 2019), many of the ‘new’ homeworkers in this current crisis are likely to work in an environment that is less suitable for homeworking

Summary

Introduction

With tight restrictions on the movement of people and closure of businesses, the COVID-19 public health crisis has quickly developed into an economic crisis. This commentary focusses on the socially and spatially uneven distribution of the ability to work at home and the economic consequences of the ‘new’ homeworking phenomenon in the context of countries in the Global North. Working at or from home was slowly but steadily increasing before the COVID-19 crisis even began (Felstead and Henseke, 2017).

Results

Conclusion