and a trove of the work I've done on the subject of remote work was developed with Rich for Next Avenue. Plus, we are both remote workers, so we have that going for us.
On a personal note, my writing and work depends on the support of my family and friends. These include my mom, Marguerite Hannon; the Bonney family: Paul, Pat, Christine, Mike, Caitlin, Shannon, Garrett Goon, Eileen Roach, and Lindsay Corner; the Hannon family: Mike, Judy, Brendan, Sean, Conor, and Brian and Charmaine; the Hersch family: Ginny, David, Corey, and Amy; and the Hackel family: Stu, Sue, Cassie, and Eric. And my best gal pal, Marcy Holquist.
Big thank you to my horse set at Woodhall Farm, especially trainer Peter Foley and Amy Zettler, and, of course, my special horse with the heart of gold, Caparino Z, for bringing balance to my life.
Zena, my super-pooch, gets the shiniest star for always getting me up and going at dawn and accompanying me wherever my laptop goes.
Finally, much love to my remarkable husband, Cliff, who knows what it's like to work from home and helps us find joy in every day.
About the Author
Photo credit: Elizabeth Dranitzke
Kerry Hannon is a leading authority and strategist on career transitions, entrepreneurship, personal finance, and retirement. She is a frequent TV and radio commentator and is a sought-after keynote speaker at conferences.
Kerry is the best-selling and award-winning author of 14 books, including Never Too Old to Get Rich: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Starting a Business Mid-Life, published by John Wiley & Sons in 2019, a number one bestseller on Amazon and selected by the Washington Post for its Book-of-the-Month Club.
Other best-selling and award-winning books penned by Kerry include Money Confidence: Really Smart Financial Moves for Newly Single Women, Great Jobs for Everyone 50+: Finding Work That Keeps You Happy and Healthy … and Pays the Bills, Love Your Job: The New Rules for Career Happiness, Getting the Job You Want after 50, and What's Next?: Finding Your Passion and Your Dream Job in Your Forties, Fifties, and Beyond.
Kerry is currently an expert columnist and regular contributor to The New York Times, MarketWatch, and Forbes, and is the PBS website NextAvenue.org personal finance and entrepreneur expert. Her areas of expertise include entrepreneurship, personal finance, retirement, wealth management, and career transition. Her advice as a work and jobs expert is a regular feature in AARP publications.
Kerry lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, documentary producer and editor Cliff Hackel, and her Labrador retriever, Zena. Follow Kerry on Twitter @KerryHannon, visit her website at KerryHannon.com, and check out her LinkedIn profile at www.linkedin.com/in/kerryhannon.
Also by Kerry Hannon
Never Too Old to Get Rich: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Starting a Business at Mid-Life
Great Jobs for Everyone 50+, Updated edition: Finding Work That Keeps You Happy and Healthy … and Pays the Bills
Money Confidence: Really Smart Financial Moves for Newly Single Women
Getting the Job You Want After 50 for Dummies
Love Your Job: The New Rules for Career Happiness
Great Jobs for Everyone 50+: Finding Work That Keeps You Happy and Healthy … and Pays the Bills
What's Next: Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job
Suddenly Single: Money Skills for Divorcees and Widows
Introduction
I love my job. I log in to my computer in the quiet predawn from my comfy couch with a steaming mug of black coffee and get to work tout de suite.
This spring, in what felt like a blink of an eye, remote work suddenly was thrust onto many workers and employers who had never wished for this to be the only work option. And there were millions of workers like me, logging into the office without the commute, not because they wanted to, but because they had no choice.
The coronavirus has radically changed our workplaces. Unprecedented, unprepared, and uncharted, working from home became the norm. Adjust and get on with it. Kids scrambling underfoot, teenagers sitting at the table beside us engaged in their online classrooms, ramping up tech skills to make virtual connections, feeling isolated. Oh boy, all of the above became a stark and somewhat frightening reality for many workers.
Everyone in the world has been impacted by this pandemic. And our workplaces may be changed forever. As I finish this manuscript, there is no way to predict our future. But this I do foresee: An increasing number of employers will become remote-friendly and probably institute a formal remote work policy. During the mandated time with offices shuttered, they'll have recognized the benefits of having remote workers.
“An ongoing, formal shift in the way people can work will happen in stages as it becomes increasingly clear a return to ‘normal’ won't happen overnight,” says Cali Williams Yost, chief strategist and futurist at Flex+Strategy Group. “After a year to a year and a half of remote and flexible working, it will be part of the ‘way we work here’ cultural DNA, and there will be no going back,” she says. “Then the flexible work genie will be officially out of the bottle, and all employees will benefit beyond the crisis.”
Not surprisingly, in a Gallup national poll conducted in April, three in five U.S. workers who had been doing their jobs from home during the coronavirus pandemic said they would prefer to continue to work remotely as much as possible, once public health restrictions are lifted.
And a study from economics professors Jonathan Dingel and Brent Neiman of the University of Chicago estimates that while less than a quarter of all full-time employees worked from home at least sometimes before the pandemic, 37 percent of jobs could be done entirely from home.
That said, industries where telework is a practical option at the moment tend to employ better-educated workers—fields like professional, scientific, and technical services, as well as finance and management, according to the report. Among the ones least flexible for telework: retail trade and food service, which typically employ sizable numbers of low-wage older workers.
“I don't think there will ever be a company again that doesn't consider that some element of emergency preparedness has to be made and working remotely in some form needs to be addressed and hopefully turned into a formalized policy,” Sara Sutton, founder and CEO of the job boards FlexJobs and Remote.co, tells me.
“It is the tipping point for work from home as a valid and important component of a healthy
