How will workplace culture change with the future of work? originally appeared on Quora, the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus.

Many people assume that the pandemic is what caused this new remote approach to work, but truthfully, it only accelerated it. While remote work was trending upward pre-pandemic, COVID forced all companies to embrace it with open arms overnight (literally!) - even those companies that lacked the infrastructure to support an entirely remote workforce. Fast forward seven months, and we’re hearing about big tech companies like Facebook and Twitter allowing their workforces to work from home indefinitely.

With the masses continuing to work remotely, once sought after in-office perks like ping pong tables, Friday happy hours, and team dinners will continue to be irrelevant. Even after offices reopen, concerns over health and safety as well as strict distancing protocol, will act as big inhibitors to pre-pandemic perks. In the absence of these, we’ll see extra attention paid by employers on company culture. Employers will be looking at creative ways to ship office culture home, particularly in the form of flexible “lifestyle benefits” that spark joy. For example, the on-site gym membership will be replaced with a virtual fitness class. Employees can form groups and take classes together, or create a Slack channel dedicated to sharing progress against fitness goals to keep each other accountable. This is what culture looks like in the virtual realm.

Culture is a matter of survival for companies all over the country (and world), not just Facebook, Twitter, and the like. After all, would-be employees will be evaluating their next employer by the level of support and care they’re showing their people through this crisis. When we look back at 2020 in five years, the companies that are thriving will be those that stepped in and stepped up during the pandemic.

COVID has accelerated what was already in motion by probably twenty years, and this requires us to be thoughtful and decisive about how we care for our workers.

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