Remote Working Can’t Last Forever | Bhaskar Chakravorti in Barron’s Magazine

In his latest op-ed in Barron’s Magazine, Dean Chakravorti discusses the pros and cons of working from home and the possibility of its permanence. If working remotely becomes an irreversible reality, Dean Chakravorti believes employment opportunities may become more widely dispersed throughout the country and across the world. But while remote work offers employees greater flexibility and may improve their overall work-life balance, it also carries several considerable obstacles.

With only 19% of rural Americans having alternatives to their broadband providers and internet access in the U.S. being among the most expensive in the world, working from home poses significant challenges for many people. To support this claim, Dean Chakravorti cites research from Digital Planet on the disparities in digital accessibility across the United States and the Urban-Rural divide during the COVID-19 pandemic, both of which show how digital preparedness varies drastically across the country and across the globe.

As working from home becomes an unavoidable facet in what many consider the “new normal”, Dean Chakravorti discusses what it takes to build efficient and inclusive digital work hubs:

The differences widen as one travels across the world. Remarkably few countries stand out as viable global digital work hubs and destinations; the exceptions being Singapore, Norway, Estonia, and the Netherlands. Each of these exceptional countries is small and they are representative of a range of metro areas around the world that could aspire to be hubs for attracting remote workers. As investors, entrepreneurs, and business leaders scout the post-pandemic global landscape to plan their next venture, these standouts offer insights into the many conditions that must come together for an economy—a small country or a metro area—to become a future digital hub.

Bhaskar Chakravorti, Barron’s Magazine