Covid-19 and the Work from Home Economy

The sustained (higher?) productivity rates has given businesses comfort that this approach is not a bad thing. The potential cost savings, as well as the risk mitigation this business continuity strategy brings, allows businesses to consider this in their post-Covid-19 strategic plans. It’s safe to say that the way business is conducted, at least as far as office work is concerned, has changed permanently. (That said, the increased fraud, cyber and technology risk of operating in this decentralized manner also merits discussion. We’ll come back to that though).

In considering the impact, let’s consider that approximately 50% of jobs in Toronto are office jobs. And that’s leaving aside the office jobs in the other categories. Using this statistically-inaccurate but directionally-good-enough-for-the-purposes-of-discussion metric as a proxy for the rest of the GTA (since many job holders in the GTA commute into Toronto for work), we must consider the economic ripple effects to businesses arising from this shift.

Long Term Negative impact; Foodservice and retail. Huge impact. This includes businesses whose survival depends on local office-worker foot traffic. Think of your favourite lunch spots, and those retailers in close proximity to your office (pretty much any retailer along the business PATH in Toronto). These are the businesses which close on weekends because there’s no traffic. Similarly, personal transportation (cabs / Uber etc), office supply businesses, as well as community and entertainment industries face long term negative impacts . To be sure, other industries have been, and continue to be negatively impacted (manufacturing, institutional, for example) however according to a survey by CTV News, most manufacturing businesses have restarted their business operations. What negative economic fallout have you seen as a result of Covid?