THE NEW ABNORMAL: READY OR NOT

Torch Leadership Labs, a mental health consultancy with 40 psychologists and therapists, surveyed 2,000 Americans as to how they’re dealing with the virus and how they see the world changing from it.
The results of the survey were published on the website of research group Study Finds in an article titled, “3 In 4 Americans Worry Life Will Never Go Back To ‘Normal.’”
Seventy-five percent reported they are fearful their lives will never return to what they once considered “normal.”
The major theme that emerged is the concern over changes in the very nature of work and employment. Almost 60 percent responded they would be afraid to work in a shared office space again.
Sixty-three percent predict their job will never be the same again and that they will most likely be working remotely for at least the near future. Even more, 67 percent think their employers do not take into account the challenge of working from home, particularly for those with young children.
Seventy percent of those surveyed said they are very stressed out at the thought of commuting again on public transportation.
The Future Office
Just under 50 percent agreed if offices are reopened, temperature checks need to be mandatory and virtual meetings should be more common.
Forty-one percent insist there should be no physical contact allowed.
Around 33 percent see companies downsizing; shifting to smaller offices; less business travel; and fewer office parties, events, and visitors.
TREND FORECAST: As we forecast at the outbreak of the COVID Pandemonium, commercial real estate prices in densely populated cities would dramatically decline as offices closed down, people became fearful of taking mass transit, and others left for ex-urban areas.
While there will be a movement toward the work-at-home trend, it will be limited. Human contact, the need for people to work together and strategize, cannot be replaced by Zooming or artificial intelligence.
Therefore, while extremely large centralized office locations will shrink, smaller office outposts in less populated areas will rise.