It seems we have been asking this since Covid really kicked off early last year.
The thing is, the question what’s the new normal (or similar words) keeps evolving.
In early 2020 it was about a world dealing with Covid. Then, as 2020 progressed, it was about Australia doing pretty well. Then it was about a vaccinated world. Now it is about a vaccine challenged world and the realisation that it will be years for the world’s population to be vaccinated.
It’s on my mind today as this week I have had a number of meetings with business people who have been asking the question. In big businesses, it is the question being asked and explored.
Thinking about the discussions with people this week from banking, national product suppliers, national retail landlords, insurance and business strategy consultants, the collective view is that big employers of office workers have reset their view of work – where it needs to be undertaken, when it needs to be undertaken and even by whom.
I know I have written about this topic before. Today it’s a bit different in that today I am reflecting on what people from major businesses have told me. Whereas six months ago most were expecting a return to what was, not all of the ones I have spoken with expect that now.
A senior person in a national retail tenancy business they are recalibrating their tenancy mix because of what they see as a long-term shift.
The insurance person said that in their case hundreds if city based employees they expected to return to the office will now permanently work from home. Less than six months ago this was not their expectation.
This is good for regional, rural and high street businesses as it keeps more people closer to those situations.
Yes, there is a huge challenge for CBDs and office tower reliant businesses. But, that’s for the. to consider.
Smart small business owners and local councils are embracing opportunities for the shift. I am seeing employees, too, embrace the shift. One of my businesses has run a couple of ads recently for new roles and the mix of people applying has changed since the roles are offered for remote engagement with more flexible hours because of this. We have a deeper and more interesting pool from which to choose and many who applied have themselves transitioned from office based work to home based, often more regional, work.
It’s this core sustained economic shift that is interesting to me and it is in this space that I think businesses, like local newsagencies, can better play.
The slow vaccine uptake in Australia coupled with the realisation that vaccinating the world’s population has big challenges and what this means for the level of international tourism we are used to and the impacts, too, on immigration all play into economic growth on which businesses big and small rely.
I know many in our channel are seeing and leveraging the shift now. My suggestion is do even more, really lean into the opportunity and be a retail leader into the opportunity … because the opportunity, I think, is bigger and more sustained than you currently think. That’s my take away from. discussions this week.