The coronavirus pandemic turned many aspects of our lives upside down. Kids went to school from home, restaurants stopped allowing patrons to eat inside, and daily commutes disappeared. Now, as a growing number of people become vaccinated, life is slowly returning to normal.
Businesses are opening their doors and operating at full capacity, COVID-19 restrictions are lifting, and teachers across the nation are starting to prepare for a return to in-person classes next school year.
However, while we may no longer have to complete our workouts at home or order curbside pickup when we want to eat out, there are some pandemic-related changes that are here to stay. One of the most influential changes that is bound to stick around is remote work.
There are a few main reasons why working from home won’t be going away anytime soon:
- Many Fortune 500 companies already hired remote workers before the pandemic
- A growing percentage of the U.S. workforce worked remotely prior to COVID-19
- With massive employee shortages sweeping the nation, employers need to provide flexibility in order to hire and retain top talent
- According to a Gallup poll, 44% of people working remotely report that they would like to continue working from home even after COVID-19 restrictions are lifted
- Allowing employees to choose whether or not they want to work from home has been shown to increase productivity
We’ve already seen large companies like Twitter, Square, and Facebook make policy changes allowing employees to work from home indefinitely. Many others are offering long-term, flexible remote work options for their workers.
Even Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, updated their original “office-centric” work guidance to allow employees to work from home for up to two days a week. Although every major company is not adopting a remote or flexible work model- Morgan Stanley, for instance, is opting for a more traditional approach- many are embracing this new trend. According to Dell COO Jeff Clarke, the pandemic accelerated the “remote learn and work trend,” and it is going to stay here for a while.
Remote Work and Northern Virginia
Based on recent trends, it seems that the majority of employers in Northern Virginia will be either fully remote or adopting a flexible hybrid schedule even when COVID-19 is a thing of the past.
According to Hamilton Lombard, demographics research specialist with the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia, there has been a 43% increase in the number of Virginians who work from home since 2010, and that this number has been growing rapidly for years. He also noted if working from home were an industry, it would be the fastest-growing industry in the state.
Research from the Greater Washington Partnership found that the majority of small businesses planned to adopt fully remote or flexible work schedules post-COVID-19, and Virginian employers surveyed said they estimated that 48% of the Virginian workforce who are currently working remotely would continue to do so after the pandemic.
Many major employers as well as Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Northern Virginia, like Northrop Grumman, Capital One Financial, and Hilton Worldwide Holdings, are allowing remote work options for the long haul.
As remote work continues to grow in popularity, more people will be working from home in the Northern Virginia area.
Remote Work and Rentals
In addition to minimizing your commute and giving you a few extra minutes to sleep in each morning, embracing flexible, remote work schedules can also be beneficial for landlords in Northern Virginia.
Working from home has caused prospective renters to look for more spacious homes. They want home offices so they have a place to work, larger shared areas so they can monitor their children taking Zoom classes, and more space to spread out so that they do not feel crowded when the whole family is home each day.
As such, homes in the suburbs of Northern Virginia, which typically offer more rooms and greater square footage, are becoming increasingly desirable, and rental prices in these areas are going up.
If you are looking to rent your property, RentSimple can make sure you are able to take advantage of these increased rates. We know the best rates for rental properties in Northern Virginia, and we can help you capitalize on these rates and find great tenants, even during the ongoing pandemic.
At RentSimple, we offer guaranteed rent, so you don’t have to worry about whether you’ll receive a check each month, and we handle all of the tough stuff for you so that you can focus on your family, your job, and everything else that matters most. Contact us today to learn more about how we are helping countless landlords manage their rental properties in Arlington, Ashburn, Gainesville, Aldie, and Haymarket, Virginia.
