The future of work is changing. Distributed or hybrid work from home options are on the rise. But there are even more innovations coming too: the latest emerging trend is the travelling office, as exemplified by Toronto tech firm Lazer Technologies who are set to operate in a different country every quarter. Setting up shop in destinations around the world is not only a technological possibility now, but may be induced as a unique incentive businesses can use to entice workers.
Examining these shifts, their impacts on society, and the future of globalization in a post-pandemic world, The Hub’s Sean Speer joined host Alicja Siekierska on Yahoo Finance Canada’s Crisis Management podcast to discuss.
Are such trends the way of the future? Speer thinks the post-pandemic reconfiguration of globalization will see the opposite, in fact.
“I do think that in a world in which globalization is under threat that there are greater questions around the commitment of different companies to the countries in which they operate, to the communities in which they operate, I actually think the world is moving in the opposite direction. Communities and countries are going to be asking companies to make deeper commitments to the places in which they have workers, the places in which they produce products, and so on. In some ways, notwithstanding the novelty, I wonder if this company isn’t actually reading the room wrong.”
One sign of this Speer points out is the recent G20 commitment to a minimum global corporate tax rate.
Ultimately, a big driver of this increasing desire for rootedness is a consequence of the growing rivalry between China and the West, Speer explains. There is increasing recognition that different countries have different interests, and that companies are going to have to make judgments about which jurisdictions they want to be associated with.
