Is working from home a thing here to stay?

Unlikely a 100% work from home model for Consulting will happen post COVID, but equally unlikely that Consulting firms will get back to 100% on-site/office based model like before at least in 2021 & 2022.

Clients across various industries have changed & adapted. They have downsized office space/physical locations and invested in supporting staff to work from home. Some people have embraced work from home, so changing it is going to be hard. Consulting firms need to follow what their clients desire. Bringing Consultants/Contractors to their office locations, will require health & safety checks and other logistics aspects. At the same time, Vaccines are being rolled at different pace across countries. So this is a factor too.

My personal view (and am no expert) is that we'll continue to see lots of home/remote working 2021 and more normality in 2022 but still not a 100% return to office. No one can predict the future and if anything COVID is a wake up call for humans. We need to show responsible behaviour and not rush back to doing things exactly the way they were before COVID. The planet cannot sustain this blatant human activity.

No. Consulting cannot function long-term without face time. Once the planes start again consultants will be on them - there's far too much value in being at the client site (pushing forward agendas, navigating politics, building rapport, getting additional sell-on work, etc. etc.).

All you have to look to is Australia - the consultants are back flying (domestically) now that covid is under control there.

Hi there,

I would not expect a 100% work-from-home policy for any major consulting company after COVID.

The consulting business is intrinsically linked to working with the client and showing you are there.

If a company would stop doing so, it would immediately give an advantage to all the competitors to show up and build stronger relationships with the client. Thus, the new “equilibrium” (if you imagine this as a game-theory situation) will be again towards showing up all to the client.

On the other hand, some companies may be able to be less strict on remote working on specific occasions if they have managed to keep productivity up during COVID.

Best,

Francesco

I agree 100% with Ian. Remote working is just a temporary solution. You NEED to be in the same room with your clients, be with them Mon-Thur, be together with your colleagues. This is a people's business where you need to work 60-80 hrs on average, where process management, communication and constant alignments with a gazillion people is necessary. I could imagine more ppl staying home in Fridays instead of going to the office (Office day) to just work uninterruptedly, but at the same you want and NEED to see your colleagues and supervisors. I had my own rules how often to go to the office (only going there for social interactions) and when to work from home (to maximize productivity) --- years before this COVID thing happened.

I'd say it depends. COVID surely helped clients and consultants get used to working from home. I don't expect consulting to be a thing that can happen remotely - some meetings will need to happen face to face. However, I do think that we will be more selective when choosing for which meetings to fly and for which video might work just as well.

Bottom line: I'd expect to be a bit more at home and a bit less at the client than pre-covid. Especially for occasions where you would have flown across a continent just for one meeting. How big that bit is? Who knows....?

Consulting is not the sphere, which can sustainably exist remotely. As Denis fairly mentioned, you have to be in one room with your clients. You have to communicate with them directly. As soon as the epidemiological situation allows, people will be back to the office. However, the rules concerning the duration of the office day, amount of people in one room etc, might be changed and become less strict as well. Pandemic already brought a lot of innovations into office life.

Hello!

I would think so for other industries, however, I see it very difficult when it comes to consulting. 

Interacting with clients is key, and I would believe that this will come back once the situation allows. In fact, in many offices it´s happening already. 

Hope it helps!

Cheers, 

Clara