vox--2020-05-21--More meetings, longer hours, living anywhere: How the coronavirus changed office work

When the world eventually opens back up after the Covid-19 crisis , many parts of society , the economy , and the workplace will not be what we remember .
For so-called knowledge workers , people whose jobs typically require analytical thinking as well as computers , not only will their offices look different , but the way in which they work will be altered , too .
It might never be the same .
The giant forced experiment of remote working en masse brought about by the pandemic will likely last longer than many thought .
Tech companies seem @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Facebook recently told employees they could work from home for the rest of the year .
Twitter and Square said they could do so indefinitely .
But the trend extends well beyond Silicon Valley .
Of the 34 percent of workers who are estimated to be working from home , many will not go back .
A survey of senior finance leaders by research firm Gartner found that 74 percent of organizations plan to shift some employees to remote work permanently .
Consulting company Global Workplace Analytics estimates that when the pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ entire workforce will work from home at least a couple times a week .
Before the pandemic , that number was in the low single digits .
As this shift continues , technology plays an increasingly important role now that more knowledge workers have familiarized themselves with its benefits .
That means video apps like Zoom and chat software like Slack should carry over into their regular day-to-day life after the pandemic .
The way people meet — the medium as well as the length and purpose of meetings — could also evolve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the experience of living through a crisis together and the memory of seeing colleagues ’ living rooms , as well as their kids and pets , could lead to a greater sense of empathy and even a permanent softening of workplace decorum .
All of this might inevitably add up to more jobs offering a better work-life balance and a more flexible office life .
The ability to step out in the middle of the day to run errands or attend a child ’ s recital could be extended to more office workers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ knowledge-work job in the first place .
And if that ’ s the case , this might just reverse the years-long trend of these jobs requiring moves to big , expensive cities .
For some , the promise of being able to work from anywhere — something touted almost as long as the internet has existed — could finally come to pass .
If nothing else , the lessons learned from the pandemic will reshape the future of office work everywhere .
More reliance on tech even after we can go back to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a new sense of purpose to workplace software like video conferencing and chat applications , including Zoom , Slack , Microsoft Teams , Google Meet , and many others .
This software helps employees collaborate on work previously done in person , and it became a business necessity during the lockdown when much of the world couldn ’ t go into the office .
And thanks to that rapid adoption , as people return to the office , they ’ ll likely continue using this software and even use it in new ways @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by a magnitude of two years , ” Wayne Kurtzman , research director of social and collaboration at market research firm IDC , told Recode .
“ Collaboration software moved from a ‘ nice to have ’ to a ‘ must have.
’ ” Collaboration software moved from a ‘ nice to have ’ to a ‘ must have.
’ Numbers from individual software companies bear out the growth .
Slack added 9,000 new paid customers between the beginning of February and the end of March — an 80 percent increase over the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quarters .
Microsoft Teams announced recently that its daily active users grew 70 percent to 75 million in just one month .
Google Meet topped 100 million daily Meet meeting participants last month , adding about 3 million new users per day .
Zoom announced 300 million daily meeting participants at the end of April , up from 200 million at the beginning of the month .
While many are already familiar with these apps , it ’ s important to remember that hasn ’ t been the case in all offices .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ that not everyone is tech-savvy , ” said Mike Got ta , research vice president for collaboration and social software at Gartner .
During the period of mandatory work from home , many have had to learn how to use these new apps , not to mention how to navigate a workday full of video meetings , digital chats , and more after-hours correspondence .
Just as earlier adopters once did , the tens of millions of newcomers to this tech are bound to adapt to new workflows .
In other words , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to learn how to use them , these apps probably won ’ t go away when offices open back up .
And why should they ?
Productivity tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams can provide a more efficient way to communicate .
They centralize communication and make it easier for everyone at a company to access assets , like documents and spreadsheets .
The software also provides a trail so that people can look up discussions that have already happened .
“ IDC research shows that collaborative applications , when supported with a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to users , save personal and group time , boost productivity , drive faster outcomes , and result in a workforce feeling more connected to each other , ” Kurtzman said .
There are some downsides .
Depending on who you are and how you use the software , it can also be its own drag on your productivity .
The dramatic increase in usage of these services has also revealed more than a few privacy and security concerns , some of which have already been addressed .
Regardless , the longer people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the more permanent it will become .
But it will still take some time for both employees and their bosses to adjust to new ways of working .
As Jared Spataro , corporate vice president for Microsoft 365 , put it , “ This is not a switch , this is a dial.
” The transition to remote work has also piqued some companies ’ interest in surveillance tech for employees .
Worried that not having people in the office could lead to the leaking of sensitive information or just more goofing off @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for compliance , as well as ActivTrak , Time Doctor , or Teramind for productivity monitoring .
“ There ’ s an uneasiness of how do you monitor employee productivity , ” Got ta said .
“ There ’ s a balancing act between surveillance and managing status and progress toward goals.
” It ’ s also more common from organizations that aren ’ t as familiar with working from home .
“ A lot is a fear of loss of control , ” Stephanie Wernick Barker , president of national staffing agency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s a big adjustment for people with old-school corporate values.
” That could present a difficult transition , as this type of surveillance can also backfire by making employees feel bad , both about themselves and their employers .
It ’ s also a lot of added work for management .
“ If we ’ re talking about a supervisory style of management , I think that type of organization will struggle with the work from home environment , ” Raúl Castañón-Martínez , a senior analyst at 451 Research , part of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told Recode .
“ That ’ s the type of organization you expect to be concerned with surveillance and monitoring employees.
” After knowledge workers left the office during the pandemic and increasingly relied on technology , the layout of the workday changed — and not always for the better .
For some , one unexpected and seemingly negative effect of this has been more meetings .
The overall number of scheduled meetings went up 7 percent from February 1 to March 1 , according to the productivity software company Time is Ltd @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this stat after looking at schedules from a number of international companies in Central and Eastern Europe that were ordered to work from home at the same time .
Time is Ltd. has visibility into calendars as well as workplace productivity software of their clients , so it could see that there were more meetings overall , not just more meetings conducted online .
In total , online meetings nearly doubled from February to April , while offline meetings obviously plummeted .
Time is Ltd. also found that meetings got bigger by 18 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ means more people were invited to each event .
Mercifully , the average length of meetings went down by about 10 minutes each .
While these statistics come from a subset of companies in one region of the world , there ’ s evidence that the culture of meetings is undergoing changes elsewhere .
Looking at a 300-person team at Microsoft , Spataro has seen weekly meeting time jump 10 percent since working from home due to the coronavirus , which adds up to about three additional meetings per week per employee .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ percent jump in one-on-one meetings and a 10 percent growth in social meetings like virtual lunches and happy hours .
It ’ s hard to know if this is a good thing .
Meetings are known to sap productivity , but with the coronavirus , the situation is a little more complicated .
More people working from home has meant that once-spontaneous interactions — talking to a colleague while grabbing coffee or lunch , for instance — must be relegated into more formalized settings .
“ What we ’ ve found anecdotally , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ meetings to compensate for serendipity you ’ re missing , ” Spataro said of his own team .
There ’ s also the enormity of what ’ s going on , which we all have to talk out : a deadly pandemic changing nearly every aspect of the way we live and work .
Then there ’ s the economic fallout from the pandemic , which is causing companies to cut costs , lay off workers , and change the way business is done .
And many companies have forced all of their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first time , so there are a lot of kinks to work out .
Trying to talk to each other more seems like a natural outcome .
We were all hyper-concerned about productivity , connectivity , and accountability , so we scheduled the hell out of each other .
Ellen Faye , a productivity leadership coach , thinks that the growth in meetings is a good thing for the time being .
She says that due to the situation , people are attending meetings they may have skipped before , and increased communication @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Building cohesion and connectivity intrinsically motivates people to do better work , ” Faye said , adding that these interactions also help combat feelings of isolation .
Working from home , Faye says , has given many people time they didn ’ t have before that would have been spent on a commute or distractions in the office .
“ There ’ s nothing else sucking up my time or to take me off course , so now I have opened up six hours a week I didn ’ t have before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ meetings are planned and not impromptu , I think people are able to be more productive.
” But it ’ s worth highlighting that the growth in meetings has mostly been a response to the extraordinary situation we ’ re experiencing .
Aspects of it are likely temporary , too .
“ Many , many companies had to pivot hard and fast , ” Kate Duchene , CEO of consulting firm Resources Global Professionals , told Recode .
“ We were all hyper-concerned about productivity , connectivity , and accountability , so we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” “ Now we ’ re taking stock : Do we need all those meetings and do they all need to be video ?
I think we will see the pendulum moderate.
” It ’ s important to note that many have felt adverse effects from the increase in video calls , what some have called “ Zoom fatigue , ” in which people find the avalanche of video chats and their attendant annoyances very draining .
It ’ s also a stark reminder of all we ’ re missing as the pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
So that spike in meetings , it might be temporary , too .
According to the data from Time is Ltd. , the number of meetings in April went down and was only 2 percent higher than in February .
What might not go back to normal , though , is the extension of our workday .
Several data sources show that the typical workday is getting longer .
People are signing on earlier and answering questions and queries later , thanks in part to the software that makes all this possible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go home .
You ’ re already home .
“ What I ’ ve seen points toward longer workdays — earlier start and later end times , and more breaks in between , ” said Jory MacKay , editor at RescueTime , a company that analyzes productivity and software use at businesses .
A Microsoft study of global Teams usage found that the average time between a person ’ s first and last usage of Teams grew by more than an hour from the beginning to the end of March .
Of course @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people are working more .
As MacKay mentioned , these days are broken up by bigger breaks , as people are now able to run errands and care for children during working hours .
Conducting more of our work lives online has also meant more time spent on work devices .
According to data from RescueTime , total time on desktops and PCs grew 12 percent to seven hours each day , after mid-March .
That adds up to almost an extra hour a day on work devices .
This might be a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ numbers aren ’ t likely to go back down , based on data from China and Italy who were hit earlier and hard , ” MacKay said .
“ China device time is up an hour since early January and hasn ’ t gone down .
In Italy , daily average time jumped from six to 7.5 hours from the start of February and has largely stayed there.
” All of this can make it difficult for people to feel like they can leave work and tune out .
“ You have to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for you , ” Faye said .
“ Otherwise , productivity suffers , and your stress level goes through the roof.
” The coronavirus could make us better at collaborating and living farther apart Even with the stressors , there are positive ways these tech-focused workdays are affecting teamwork .
You can ’ t see your colleague wearing a stained hoodie in their bedroom while getting Zoombombed by their 8-year-old without feeling a bit closer to them .
Similarly , commiserating with your colleagues about the whims of your bosses amid a global @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
All of it makes us better at working together .
“ We have something in common with everyone on the planet we didn ’ t have two months ago .
It gives us something we share .
It humanizes us , ” Kurtzman said .
“ The sense of community is now to the point where the tech is ready to support authentic community.
” As Duchene put it , the situation is “ creating deeper and fun connections in ways that never show up at an office.
” We have something @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we didn ’ t have two months ago .
It gives us something we share .
It humanizes us .
These deeper relationships , in conjunction with more flexible work processes , enable something called “ agile work.
” Vaunted by startups and Silicon Valley companies , this buzzy idea implies that a culture of flexibility , efficiency , and creativity leads to a workforce that ’ s empowered and unencumbered .
This new way of operating is less hierarchical and more collaborative , and it allows people to do better work .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ now is a transition to a different type to work and different way of organizing work , ” said Castañón-Martínez .
“ There is a better understanding of the goals that the group has to deliver , a better understated of what the individual contributes.
” Part of what ’ s enabling this shift is a sense of freedom enabled by remote work , something people have been anticipating since the early days of the internet .
A massive push into remote work could truly make it possible to work from anywhere and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ already starting to happen pre-pandemic , but the coronavirus could provide the push necessary to make it a more widely adopted reality .
“ There ’ s a shift to focus more on results and outcomes versus time spent at a desk and standard business hours , ” Brie Reynolds , career development manager at FlexJobs , said .
“ The tide finally turned the way it was already headed.
” FlexJobs , a job site that specializes in remote working arrangements , saw a 3 percent increase in job listings on its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is especially notable since listings for jobs in general on places like LinkedIn and Indeed have declined precipitously since the pandemic began .
Some 70 percent of fast-growth companies have employees work remotely at least part of the week , according to a pre-pandemic survey done by 451 Research .
“ Companies that are more tech-savvy and forward-looking had more acceptance of flexible work situations , ” 451 ’ s Castañón-Martínez said .
“ Now it ’ s not just forward-looking companies , it ’ s everyone.
” The upsides to working remotely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ office arrangements , for example , mean that Silicon Valley engineers don ’ t have to pay unaffordable Silicon Valley prices and can make their money go a lot further in suburban or rural areas , where the cost of living is lower .
There ’ s already evidence that the pandemic is causing some to leave urban areas , and the shift toward more remote work might mean they never go back .
It ’ s important to remember that all these changes and their benefits will be available primarily to knowledge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more educated and highly paid .
They will likely further exacerbate existing economic and other divides , as those who work in lower-paid industries like retail , food service , and warehousing must also contend with the consequences of the pandemic .
Some believe , though , that any transformation of the workforce could have positive results .
For employers of knowledge workers , the idea of letting them work from anywhere could means less upward pressure on salaries and access to a wider talent pool .
“ People are using this to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and get the best worker for the best price , ” Mondo ’ s Barker said .
“ I genuinely believe employees have so much more control now , ” Barker said .
“ I believe that this will rip the Band-Aid between two worlds : Old-school suit and tie and the freelance generation.
” That can be good news for workers in general .
“ Work is generally inhumane and should be a lot better for more people , ” Henry Albrecht , CEO of the employee experience software company Limeade , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pandemic a “ black swan event , ” one that is “ bad but will lead to innovation.
” “ Work will come out in a much stronger place for human beings.
” Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching @ @ @ @ @ @ @ distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
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When the world eventually opens back up after the Covid-19 pandemic, many parts of society, the economy, and the workplace will not be what we remember. For so-called knowledge workers, people whose jobs typically require analytical thinking as well as computers, not only will their offices look different, but the way in which they work will be altered, too. It might never be the same.
The giant forced experiment of remote working en masse brought about by the pandemic will likely last longer than many thought. Tech companies seem to be taking the concept especially seriously. Facebook recently told employees they could work from home for the rest of the year. Twitter and Square said they could do so indefinitely. But the trend extends well beyond Silicon Valley.
Of the 34 percent of workers who are estimated to be working from home, many will not go back. A survey of senior finance leaders by research firm Gartner found that 74 percent of organizations plan to shift some employees to remote work permanently. Consulting company Global Workplace Analytics estimates that when the pandemic is over, 30 percent of the entire workforce will work from home at least a couple times a week. Before the pandemic, that number was in the low single digits.
As this shift continues, technology plays an increasingly important role now that more knowledge workers have familiarized themselves with its benefits. That means video apps like Zoom and chat software like Slack should carry over into their regular day-to-day life after the pandemic. The way people meet — the medium as well as the length and purpose of meetings — could also evolve. On a very human note, the experience of living through a crisis together and the memory of seeing colleagues’ living rooms, as well as their kids and pets, could lead to a greater sense of empathy and even a permanent softening of workplace decorum.
All of this might inevitably add up to more jobs offering a better work-life balance and a more flexible office life. The ability to step out in the middle of the day to run errands or attend a child’s recital could be extended to more office workers and could be a stipulation of a knowledge-work job in the first place. And if that’s the case, this might just reverse the years-long trend of these jobs requiring moves to big, expensive cities.
For some, the promise of being able to work from anywhere — something touted almost as long as the internet has existed — could finally come to pass. If nothing else, the lessons learned from the pandemic will reshape the future of office work everywhere.
More reliance on tech even after we can go back to the office
The coronavirus pandemic has brought a new sense of purpose to workplace software like video conferencing and chat applications, including Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and many others. This software helps employees collaborate on work previously done in person, and it became a business necessity during the lockdown when much of the world couldn’t go into the office. And thanks to that rapid adoption, as people return to the office, they’ll likely continue using this software and even use it in new ways.
“Conferencing and collaboration apps accelerated by a magnitude of two years,” Wayne Kurtzman, research director of social and collaboration at market research firm IDC, told Recode. “Collaboration software moved from a ‘nice to have’ to a ‘must have.’”
Collaboration software moved from a ‘nice to have’ to a ‘must have.’
Numbers from individual software companies bear out the growth. Slack added 9,000 new paid customers between the beginning of February and the end of March — an 80 percent increase over the full quarterly total for the preceding two quarters. Microsoft Teams announced recently that its daily active users grew 70 percent to 75 million in just one month. Google Meet topped 100 million daily Meet meeting participants last month, adding about 3 million new users per day. Zoom announced 300 million daily meeting participants at the end of April, up from 200 million at the beginning of the month.
While many are already familiar with these apps, it’s important to remember that hasn’t been the case in all offices.
“It’s easy to forget that not everyone is tech-savvy,” said Mike Gotta, research vice president for collaboration and social software at Gartner.
During the period of mandatory work from home, many have had to learn how to use these new apps, not to mention how to navigate a workday full of video meetings, digital chats, and more after-hours correspondence. Just as earlier adopters once did, the tens of millions of newcomers to this tech are bound to adapt to new workflows. In other words, now that everyone’s been forced to learn how to use them, these apps probably won’t go away when offices open back up.
And why should they? Productivity tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams can provide a more efficient way to communicate. They centralize communication and make it easier for everyone at a company to access assets, like documents and spreadsheets. The software also provides a trail so that people can look up discussions that have already happened.
“IDC research shows that collaborative applications, when supported with a culture of collaboration, provide real-time information to users, save personal and group time, boost productivity, drive faster outcomes, and result in a workforce feeling more connected to each other,” Kurtzman said.
There are some downsides. Depending on who you are and how you use the software, it can also be its own drag on your productivity. The dramatic increase in usage of these services has also revealed more than a few privacy and security concerns, some of which have already been addressed.
Regardless, the longer people rely on this sort of software, the more permanent it will become. But it will still take some time for both employees and their bosses to adjust to new ways of working. As Jared Spataro, corporate vice president for Microsoft 365, put it, “This is not a switch, this is a dial.”
The transition to remote work has also piqued some companies’ interest in surveillance tech for employees. Worried that not having people in the office could lead to the leaking of sensitive information or just more goofing off, employers are using software like Aware for compliance, as well as ActivTrak, Time Doctor, or Teramind for productivity monitoring.
“There’s an uneasiness of how do you monitor employee productivity,” Gotta said. “There’s a balancing act between surveillance and managing status and progress toward goals.”
It’s also more common from organizations that aren’t as familiar with working from home.
“A lot is a fear of loss of control,” Stephanie Wernick Barker, president of national staffing agency Mondo, told Recode. “It’s a big adjustment for people with old-school corporate values.”
That could present a difficult transition, as this type of surveillance can also backfire by making employees feel bad, both about themselves and their employers. It’s also a lot of added work for management.
“If we’re talking about a supervisory style of management, I think that type of organization will struggle with the work-from-home environment,” Raúl Castañón-Martínez, a senior analyst at 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence, told Recode. “That’s the type of organization you expect to be concerned with surveillance and monitoring employees.”
More meetings and longer days
After knowledge workers left the office during the pandemic and increasingly relied on technology, the layout of the workday changed — and not always for the better. For some, one unexpected and seemingly negative effect of this has been more meetings.
The overall number of scheduled meetings went up 7 percent from February 1 to March 1, according to the productivity software company Time is Ltd. The productivity software company arrived at this stat after looking at schedules from a number of international companies in Central and Eastern Europe that were ordered to work from home at the same time. Time is Ltd. has visibility into calendars as well as workplace productivity software of their clients, so it could see that there were more meetings overall, not just more meetings conducted online.
In total, online meetings nearly doubled from February to April, while offline meetings obviously plummeted. Time is Ltd. also found that meetings got bigger by 18 percent between February and April, which means more people were invited to each event. Mercifully, the average length of meetings went down by about 10 minutes each. While these statistics come from a subset of companies in one region of the world, there’s evidence that the culture of meetings is undergoing changes elsewhere.
Looking at a 300-person team at Microsoft, Spataro has seen weekly meeting time jump 10 percent since working from home due to the coronavirus, which adds up to about three additional meetings per week per employee. The Microsoft team also saw an 18 percent jump in one-on-one meetings and a 10 percent growth in social meetings like virtual lunches and happy hours.
It’s hard to know if this is a good thing. Meetings are known to sap productivity, but with the coronavirus, the situation is a little more complicated. More people working from home has meant that once-spontaneous interactions — talking to a colleague while grabbing coffee or lunch, for instance — must be relegated to more formalized settings.
“What we’ve found anecdotally, you end up having to create scheduled meetings to compensate for serendipity you’re missing,” Spataro said of his own team.
There’s also the enormity of what’s going on, which we all have to talk out: a deadly pandemic changing nearly every aspect of the way we live and work. Then there’s the economic fallout from the pandemic, which is causing companies to cut costs, lay off workers, and change the way business is done. And many companies have forced all of their workers to work from home for the first time, so there are a lot of kinks to work out. Trying to talk to each other more seems like a natural outcome.
We were all hyper-concerned about productivity, connectivity, and accountability, so we scheduled the hell out of each other.
Ellen Faye, a productivity leadership coach, thinks that the growth in meetings is a good thing for the time being. She says that due to the situation, people are attending meetings they may have skipped before, and increased communication leads to more closely aligned organizations.
“Building cohesion and connectivity intrinsically motivates people to do better work,” Faye said, adding that these interactions also help combat feelings of isolation.
Working from home, Faye says, has given many people time they didn’t have before that would have been spent on a commute or distractions in the office.
“There’s nothing else sucking up my time or to take me off course, so now I have opened up six hours a week I didn’t have before,” Faye said. “Because meetings are planned and not impromptu, I think people are able to be more productive.”
But it’s worth highlighting that the growth in meetings has mostly been a response to the extraordinary situation we’re experiencing. Aspects of it are likely temporary, too.
“Many, many companies had to pivot hard and fast,” Kate Duchene, CEO of consulting firm Resources Global Professionals, told Recode. “We were all hyper-concerned about productivity, connectivity, and accountability, so we scheduled the hell out of each other.”
“Now we’re taking stock: Do we need all those meetings and do they all need to be video? I think we will see the pendulum moderate.”
It’s important to note that many have felt adverse effects from the increase in video calls, what some have called “Zoom fatigue,” in which people find the avalanche of video chats and their attendant annoyances very draining. It’s also a stark reminder of all we’re missing as the pandemic prevents us from actually being with people. So that spike in meetings, it might be temporary, too. According to the data from Time is Ltd., the number of meetings in April went down and was only 2 percent higher than in February.
What might not go back to normal, though, is the extension of our workday. Several data sources show that the typical workday is getting longer. People are signing on earlier and answering questions and queries later, thanks in part to the software that makes all this possible. You’re not leaving to go home. You’re already home.
“What I’ve seen points toward longer workdays — earlier start and later end times, and more breaks in between,” said Jory MacKay, editor at RescueTime, a company that analyzes productivity and software use at businesses.
A Microsoft study of global Teams usage found that the average time between a person’s first and last usage of Teams grew by more than an hour from the beginning to the end of March. Of course, longer workdays don’t mean people are working more.
As MacKay mentioned, these days are broken up by bigger breaks, as people are now able to run errands and care for children during working hours.
Conducting more of our work lives online has also meant more time spent on work devices. According to data from RescueTime, total time on desktops and PCs grew 12 percent to seven hours each day, after mid-March. That adds up to almost an extra hour a day on work devices. This might be a permanent change, too.
“These numbers aren’t likely to go back down, based on data from China and Italy who were hit earlier and hard,” MacKay said. “China device time is up an hour since early January and hasn’t gone down. In Italy, daily average time jumped from six to 7.5 hours from the start of February and has largely stayed there.”
All of this can make it difficult for people to feel like they can leave work and tune out.
“You have to figure out how to make tech work for you,” Faye said. “Otherwise, productivity suffers, and your stress level goes through the roof.”
The coronavirus could make us better at collaborating and living farther apart
Even with the stressors, there are positive ways these tech-focused workdays are affecting teamwork. You can’t see your colleague wearing a stained hoodie in their bedroom while getting Zoombombed by their 8-year-old without feeling a bit closer to them. Similarly, commiserating with your colleagues about the whims of your bosses amid a global crisis can be a singular bonding experience. All of it makes us better at working together.
“We have something in common with everyone on the planet we didn’t have two months ago. It gives us something we share. It humanizes us,” Kurtzman said. “The sense of community is now to the point where the tech is ready to support authentic community.”
As Duchene put it, the situation is “creating deeper and fun connections in ways that never show up at an office.”
We have something in common with everyone on the planet we didn’t have two months ago. It gives us something we share. It humanizes us.
These deeper relationships, in conjunction with more flexible work processes, enable something called “agile work.” Vaunted by startups and Silicon Valley companies, this buzzy idea implies that a culture of flexibility, efficiency, and creativity leads to a workforce that’s empowered and unencumbered. This new way of operating is less hierarchical and more collaborative, and it allows people to do better work.
“What we’re seeing right now is a transition to a different type to work and different way of organizing work,” said Castañón-Martínez. “There is a better understanding of the goals that the group has to deliver, a better understated of what the individual contributes.”
Part of what’s enabling this shift is a sense of freedom enabled by remote work, something people have been anticipating since the early days of the internet. A massive push into remote work could truly make it possible to work from anywhere and on your own schedule. It was already starting to happen pre-pandemic, but the coronavirus could provide the push necessary to make it a more widely adopted reality.
“There’s a shift to focus more on results and outcomes versus time spent at a desk and standard business hours,” Brie Reynolds, career development manager at FlexJobs, said. “The tide finally turned the way it was already headed.”
FlexJobs, a job site that specializes in remote working arrangements, saw a 3 percent increase in job listings on its site from February to March. This is especially notable since listings for jobs in general on places like LinkedIn and Indeed have declined precipitously since the pandemic began. Some 70 percent of fast-growth companies have employees work remotely at least part of the week, according to a pre-pandemic survey done by 451 Research.
“Companies that are more tech-savvy and forward-looking had more acceptance of flexible work situations,” 451’s Castañón-Martínez said. “Now it’s not just forward-looking companies, it’s everyone.”
The upsides to working remotely can be significant for employees. Flexible office arrangements, for example, mean that Silicon Valley engineers don’t have to pay unaffordable Silicon Valley prices and can make their money go a lot further in suburban or rural areas, where the cost of living is lower. There’s already evidence that the pandemic is causing some to leave urban areas, and the shift toward more remote work might mean they never go back.
It’s important to remember that all these changes and their benefits will be available primarily to knowledge workers, people who tend to be more educated and highly paid. They will likely further exacerbate existing economic and other divides, as those who work in lower-paid industries like retail, food service, and warehousing must also contend with the consequences of the pandemic. Some believe, though, that any transformation of the workforce could have positive results.
For employers of knowledge workers, the idea of letting them work from anywhere could means less upward pressure on salaries and access to a wider talent pool.
“People are using this to say how can we expand our reach and get the best worker for the best price,” Mondo’s Barker said.
For employees, increased flexibility means better work-life balance.
“I genuinely believe employees have so much more control now,” Barker said. “I believe that this will rip the Band-Aid between two worlds: Old-school suit and tie and the freelance generation.”
That can be good news for workers in general.
“Work is generally inhumane and should be a lot better for more people,” Henry Albrecht, CEO of the employee experience software company Limeade, told Recode. He considers the coronavirus pandemic a “black swan event,” one that is “bad but will lead to innovation.”
“Work will come out in a much stronger place for human beings.”


vox--2020-05-21--You can’t turn the economy back on like a light switch

It would be nice to think that everything will be back to normal by June .
It may also be close to delusional .
As states around the country begin to reopen their economies with the coronavirus crisis still far from under control , we ’ re about to undertake a very big experiment about whether you can turn the economy on and off , basically , like a light switch .
That getting back to business will be easy is a risky bet to make , and so far , signs point to it being pretty unlikely .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and those are two factors that don ’ t necessarily point in the same direction , ” said Mark Hamrick , senior economic analyst at Bankrate .
There ’ s no way to predict exactly what the future of the United States economy will be , precisely what the recovery will look like or when it will arrive .
Even if businesses reopen , many people won ’ t risk getting themselves or a loved one sick to crowd into restaurants and bars .
Still , a sort of magical thinking has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a glitch , some people argue , and a swift economic recovery is just around the corner if we just will it .
But much of the evidence points to a longer and harder recovery than optimists project — instead of a “ V-shaped ” recovery ( a quick dip down and then pop back up ) , at the very least , more of a Nike swoosh .
Millions of Americans have lost their jobs , and even when workplaces open back up , some of those job losses will be permanent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that have shuttered .
And if the federal government waits too long to take further action to support the economy , the recovery will be longer and slower .
“ It ’ s not going to be a snap-back V-shaped recovery , at least for Main Street , ” said Alicia Sasser Modestino , an associate professor of public policy and economics at Northeastern University .
The best-case scenario feels very nice to imagine and is also pretty unlikely On Monday , the stock market popped , thanks in large part to positive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which showed that eight participants in a Covid-19 vaccine study it was running had developed antibodies against the virus .
Now , the stock market isn ’ t the economy — and the market lately has been a lot more positive than the economy — but the jump is emblematic of the overall hope that scientists will find some sort of solution for the coronavirus pandemic and , poof , everything will be right again .
“ If we beat this thing , it ’ s going to be unbelievable , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me earlier this year .
“ If for some reason somehow one of these companies discovers a vaccine that cures and eradicates the virus , which is a small possibility , we ’ d be in a V-shaped recovery faster than you could turn around , and the market would go to the moon almost instantaneously , ” said Randy Frederick , vice president of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab .
Some sort of instant solution is perhaps possible , but it ’ s unlikely in the near-term .
Scientists still haven @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus , and many experts caution that a 12- to 18-month timeline on a vaccine is optimistic .
It ’ s still unclear how long immunity lasts after someone ’ s had the virus , and beyond treatments and vaccines , America is still getting its act together on testing .
“ The truth is , nobody knows when or if we ’ re going to have treatments or a vaccine for the virus , and if we wind up with modest treatments and no vaccine , this recovery is going to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ On Tuesday , stocks fell after a report suggested the Moderna vaccine news was overblown .
Some big-money investors are starting to sound the alarm that the rosy stock market is pointing to a bright economic future that is divorced from reality .
Last week , billionaire investor Stan Druckenmiller warned that despite the Federal Reserve ’ s measures to boost markets , “ the risk-reward for equity is maybe as bad as I ’ ve seen in my career.
” David Tepper , the manager of hedge fund Appaloosa Management , said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ market ” he ’ s ever seen .
Even Warren Buffett , who in 2008 encouraged investors to “ buy American , ” at Berkshire Hathaway ’ s annual meeting recently , struck a more pessimistic tone .
“ You can bet on America , but you kind of have to be careful about how you bet , ” he said .
Life isn ’ t back to normal , so how can the economy be back to normal ?
Many states across the country have begun to gradually reopen their economies , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where they once were .
Many establishments have occupancy limits , so restaurants , for example , can only be at partial capacity , or retailers are open , but they ’ re only doing curbside pickup .
Moreover , plenty of people are still very scared of contracting the novel coronavirus , and they ’ re just not eager to crowd into movie theaters , gyms , or bars .
According to a recent survey from Bankrate , 55 percent of Americans think it ’ s too soon to reopen the country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ say that they plan to shop in public less than before .
Most Americans say it will be at least a month before they feel comfortable going back out , and 13 percent say they wouldn ’ t feel comfortable until there ’ s a vaccine or the virus has been contained .
There ’ s a partisan divide to it — Democrats are more hesitant about the economy reopening than Republicans — and there are some people who say they ’ ll get back to participating in the economy like before .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ participation from everyone , meaning different not the same .
According to Bankrate ’ s survey , about one-third of Americans say they ’ d be comfortable visiting a local business within a month of restrictions being lifted .
“ But even if it ’ s one-third , you have to think about how that affects the margin , ” Hamrick said .
“ You don ’ t have to have 100 percent for it to be negative.
” Sweden , for example , has decided largely to go about business as usual @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contract at a similar rate to the rest of Europe because many people are still opting to stay home .
As Vox ’ s Matt Yglesias recently wrote , put simply , reopening the economy won ’ t save the economy .
Even before the shutdowns , restaurant bookings fell off a cliff .
The airline industry has taken an enormous hit , and people can still travel .
Same goes for hotels .
Per Yglesias : Consumers are uncertain about what ’ s to come , and so many are inclined to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just won ’ t come back Over the past two months , more than 36 million Americans have filed new jobless claims .
The unemployment rate hit 14.7 percent in April , with estimates suggesting it could reach 20 to 25 percent .
One recent study projected that over 100,000 small businesses have shuttered permanently since the onset of the pandemic closed their doors .
Coming back from that is going to take time .
In an interview with 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday , Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell , when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ V-shaped recovery , ” emphasized that the important thing is to get back on the road to recovery at all .
He said he thinks that can happen by the second half of the year , but it ’ s “ very plausible ” it will take some time for the economy to gather momentum .
“ We ’ re not going to get back to where we were quickly , ” he said .
“ We won ’ t get back to where we were by the end of the year .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Recovery is going to be a process , and some things will just never be the same .
The labor market will likely take a long time recover — the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects unemployment will still be at about 10 percent by the end of 2021 .
There ’ s a lot of friction that happens in the labor market that slows things down , Sasser Modestino explained .
Not all the jobs destroyed because of coronavirus are going to come back .
Some companies are going to put in place @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re just not going to hire as many people back .
A food processing plant is going to put in place more machinery , a daycare at partial capacity will bring back fewer employees .
“ It ’ s very unlikely that all of the furloughed workers will be recalled in June , July , August , ” Sasser Modestino said .
“ The longer you stay shut down , the harder it is to snap back , ” said Scott Baker , an associate professor of finance at Northwestern University ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are slowed or redirected , jobs don ’ t return , workers lose contact with employers .
And as with so many things in the economy , the recovery is unequal — big companies with access to infrastructure and credit have much better odds than small players .
“ They can weather this a lot easier , ” Baker said .
The recovery is also likely to be split across socioeconomic lines — just because Wall Street makes a comeback doesn ’ t mean everyday Americans will , especially those hit disproportionately hard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who are getting hurt the worst are the most recently hired , the lowest paid people .
It ’ s women to an extraordinary extent .
Of the people who were working in February , who were making less than $ 40,000 per year , almost 40 percent have lost their jobs in the last month or so , ” Powell told 60 Minutes .
If the government wants a V-shaped recovery , it has the ability to accelerate growth Jeff Stein at the Washington Post recently reported that President Donald Trump and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a quick economic recovery .
White House economist Kevin Hassett told reporters on Monday he ’ s been “ really positively impressed by how quickly things are turning around.
” National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow said improvements in housing and gasoline demand were positive signs .
That ’ s the same Larry Kudlow who a couple of weeks ago said the White House wants to take a “ pause ” on economic relief to see how things go .
It ’ s true that not everything in the economy is all doom @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the current situation , as Bloomberg ’ s Joe Weisenthal recently put it , are just weird .
It ’ s also true that we don ’ t necessarily want the economy to look how it did pre-coronavirus .
Millions of low-paid workers have been deemed essential during the pandemic , and failures of the social safety net have been exposed .
But broadly , if the federal government wants to improve its chances of accelerating the economic recovery , it can .
The Federal Reserve has already indicated it is more than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tools in its toolbox to keep the country afloat .
Congress has passed three major coronavirus-related bills , and last week , House Democrats unveiled their proposal for a fourth .
States and cities have begun to sound the alarm that they are facing serious budget shortfalls .
If the federal government doesn ’ t step in , they ’ ll have to cut back services and lay off workers , and that will ultimately slow the recovery even more .
“ We do not want to be adding public employees to an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Modestino said .
The truth is , no one knows what the future holds for the American economy .
And it would be great if some treatment or vaccine appeared for coronavirus tomorrow .
But hoping for a miracle is not a safe bet — focusing on actionable , tangible solutions is at least more realistic .
“ There ’ s been real economic damage , of course , caused by these restrictions , and no amount of got assistance is going to fix all of that , ” Hamrick said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a recovery process than it will be an event.
” Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

It would be nice to think that everything will be back to normal by June. It may also be close to delusional.
As states around the country begin to reopen their economies with the coronavirus crisis still far from under control, we’re about to undertake a very big experiment about whether you can turn the economy on and off, basically, like a light switch. That getting back to business will be easy is a risky bet to make, and so far, signs point to it being pretty unlikely.
“We have to balance optimism with realism, and those are two factors that don’t necessarily point in the same direction,” said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate.
There’s no way to predict exactly what the future of the United States economy will be, precisely what the recovery will look like or when it will arrive. Even if businesses reopen, many people won’t risk getting themselves or a loved one sick to crowd into restaurants and bars. Still, a sort of magical thinking has settled into place: This was just a glitch, some people argue, and a swift economic recovery is just around the corner if we simply will it.
But much of the evidence points to a longer and harder recovery than optimists project — instead of a “V-shaped” recovery (a quick dip down and then pop back up), at the very least, more of a Nike swoosh. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, and even when workplaces open back up, some of those job losses will be permanent. The same goes for some businesses that have shuttered. And if the federal government waits too long to take further action to support the economy, the recovery will be longer and slower.
“It’s not going to be a snap-back V-shaped recovery, at least for Main Street,” said Alicia Sasser Modestino, an associate professor of public policy and economics at Northeastern University.
The best-case scenario feels very nice to imagine and is also pretty unlikely
On Monday, the stock market popped, thanks in large part to positive data from a biotech company called Moderna, which showed that eight participants in a Covid-19 vaccine study it was running had developed antibodies against the virus. Now, the stock market isn’t the economy — and the market lately has been a lot more positive than the economy — but the jump is emblematic of the overall hope that scientists will find some sort of solution for the coronavirus pandemic and, poof, everything will be right again.
“If we beat this thing, it’s going to be unbelievable,” trader and CNBC host Jim Cramer told me earlier this year.
“If for some reason somehow one of these companies discovers a vaccine that cures and eradicates the virus, which is a small possibility, we’d be in a V-shaped recovery faster than you could turn around, and the market would go to the moon almost instantaneously,” said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab.
Some sort of instant solution is perhaps possible, but it’s unlikely in the near-term. Scientists still haven’t identified a super-effective treatment for for Covid-19, and many experts caution that a 12- to 18-month timeline on a vaccine is optimistic. It’s still unclear how long immunity lasts after someone’s had the virus, and beyond treatments and vaccines, America is still getting its act together on testing.
“The truth is, nobody knows when or if we’re going to have treatments or a vaccine for the virus, and if we wind up with modest treatments and no vaccine, this recovery is going to be pretty gradual,” Frederick said.
On Tuesday, stocks fell after a report suggested the Moderna vaccine news was overblown.
Some big-money investors are starting to sound the alarm that the rosy stock market is pointing to a bright economic future that is divorced from reality. Last week, billionaire investor Stan Druckenmiller warned that despite the Federal Reserve’s measures to boost markets, “the risk-reward for equity is maybe as bad as I’ve seen in my career.” David Tepper, the manager of hedge fund Appaloosa Management, said this is the “second-most overvalued stock market” he’s ever seen. Even Warren Buffett, who in 2008 encouraged investors to “buy American,” at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting recently, struck a more pessimistic tone. “You can bet on America, but you kind of have to be careful about how you bet,” he said.
Life isn’t back to normal, so how can the economy be back to normal?
Many states across the country have begun to gradually reopen their economies, but things aren’t back to where they once were. Many establishments have occupancy limits, so restaurants, for example, can only be at partial capacity, or retailers are open, but they’re only doing curbside pickup. Moreover, plenty of people are still very scared of contracting the novel coronavirus, and they’re just not eager to crowd into movie theaters, gyms, or bars.
According to a recent survey from Bankrate, 55 percent of Americans think it’s too soon to reopen the country’s economy, and 43 percent say that they plan to shop in public less than before. Most Americans say it will be at least a month before they feel comfortable going back out, and 13 percent say they wouldn’t feel comfortable until there’s a vaccine or the virus has been contained. There’s a partisan divide to it — Democrats are more hesitant about the economy reopening than Republicans — and there are some people who say they’ll get back to participating in the economy like before.
According to Bankrate’s survey, about one-third of Americans say they’d be comfortable visiting a local business within a month of restrictions being lifted. “But even if it’s one-third, you have to think about how that affects the margin,” Hamrick said. “You don’t have to have 100 percent for it to be negative.”
Sweden, for example, has decided largely to go about business as usual. But its economy is expected to contract at a similar rate to the rest of Europe because many people are still opting to stay home.
As Vox’s Matt Yglesias recently wrote, put simply, reopening the economy won’t save the economy. Even before the shutdowns, restaurant bookings fell off a cliff. The airline industry has taken an enormous hit, and people can still travel. Same goes for hotels. Per Yglesias:
The problem is a question of fear. Americans fear spreading or contracting infection, so much so that they’ve overwhelmingly participated in social distancing measures. They tell pollsters by wide margins that they fear lifting those restrictions too soon much more so than too late. They’re willing to stay put even if it harms the economy. They also fear economic hardship. That’s led prudent people, even those left relatively unharmed by the downturn so far, to delay nonessential purchases, like new cars, appliances, clothes, and other goods.
Consumers are uncertain about what’s to come, and so many are inclined to save.
Some of what was lost just won’t come back
Over the past two months, more than 36 million Americans have filed new jobless claims. The unemployment rate hit 14.7 percent in April, with estimates suggesting it could reach 20 to 25 percent. One recent study projected that over 100,000 small businesses have shuttered permanently since the onset of the pandemic closed their doors. Coming back from that is going to take time.
In an interview with 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, when asked about the likelihood of a “V-shaped recovery,” emphasized that the important thing is to get back on the road to recovery at all. He said he thinks that can happen by the second half of the year, but it’s “very plausible” it will take some time for the economy to gather momentum.
“We’re not going to get back to where we were quickly,” he said. “We won’t get back to where we were by the end of the year. That’s unlikely to happen.”
Recovery is going to be a process, and some things will just never be the same.
The labor market will likely take a long time recover — the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects unemployment will still be at about 10 percent by the end of 2021. There’s a lot of friction that happens in the labor market that slows things down, Sasser Modestino explained. Not all the jobs destroyed because of coronavirus are going to come back. Some companies are going to put in place more automation and technology, or they’re just not going to hire as many people back. A food processing plant is going to put in place more machinery, a daycare at partial capacity will bring back fewer employees.
“It’s very unlikely that all of the furloughed workers will be recalled in June, July, August,” Sasser Modestino said.
“The longer you stay shut down, the harder it is to snap back,” said Scott Baker, an associate professor of finance at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Investments are slowed or redirected, jobs don’t return, workers lose contact with employers. And as with so many things in the economy, the recovery is unequal — big companies with access to infrastructure and credit have much better odds than small players. “They can weather this a lot easier,” Baker said.
The recovery is also likely to be split across socioeconomic lines — just because Wall Street makes a comeback doesn’t mean everyday Americans will, especially those hit disproportionately hard by the downturn.
“The people who are getting hurt the worst are the most recently hired, the lowest paid people. It’s women to an extraordinary extent. Of the people who were working in February, who were making less than $40,000 per year, almost 40 percent have lost their jobs in the last month or so,” Powell told 60 Minutes.
If the government wants a V-shaped recovery, it has the ability to accelerate growth
Jeff Stein at the Washington Post recently reported that President Donald Trump and many of his top advisers are predicting a quick economic recovery. White House economist Kevin Hassett told reporters on Monday he’s been “really positively impressed by how quickly things are turning around.” National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow said improvements in housing and gasoline demand were positive signs. That’s the same Larry Kudlow who a couple of weeks ago said the White House wants to take a “pause” on economic relief to see how things go.
It’s true that not everything in the economy is all doom and gloom, and some elements of the current situation, as Bloomberg’s Joe Weisenthal recently put it, are just weird.
A thought that I keep having during this economic crisis is that it is extremely strange and that I often feel like I must be missing something.
From today's @Markets newsletter https://t.co/8TrPT6oQtf pic.twitter.com/8bnQKeJoY9 — Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) May 19, 2020
It’s also true that we don’t necessarily want the economy to look how it did pre-coronavirus. Millions of low-paid workers have been deemed essential during the pandemic, and failures of the social safety net have been exposed.
But broadly, if the federal government wants to improve its chances of accelerating the economic recovery, it can. The Federal Reserve has already indicated it is more than willing to continue to use all the tools in its toolbox to keep the country afloat. Congress has passed three major coronavirus-related bills, and last week, House Democrats unveiled their proposal for a fourth.
States and cities have begun to sound the alarm that they are facing serious budget shortfalls. If the federal government doesn’t step in, they’ll have to cut back services and lay off workers, and that will ultimately slow the recovery even more. “We do not want to be adding public employees to an already long unemployment line,” Sasser Modestino said.
The truth is, no one knows what the future holds for the American economy. And it would be great if some treatment or vaccine appeared for coronavirus tomorrow. But hoping for a miracle is not a safe bet — focusing on actionable, tangible solutions is at least more realistic.
“There’s been real economic damage, of course, caused by these restrictions, and no amount of got assistance is going to fix all of that,” Hamrick said. “It’s going to be more of a recovery process than it will be an event.”


vox--2020-05-21--A sleep expert has some tips for your quarantine insomnia

On a recent FaceTime call , my friend Jon told me that he hadn ’ t had a satisfyingly restful night of sleep since March , before the stay-at-home orders and the wave of coronavirus cases hit the US .
He ’ s taken sleeping aids , exercised before bed , and listened to ASMR videos but to no avail ; he couldn ’ t manage to turn his brain off until 2 or 3 am on most nights .
Jon isn ’ t alone in his sleeplessness .
While many people have anecdotally reported having startlingly vivid dreams in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ feels like incurable insomnia , whether that manifests as difficulty falling asleep , trouble staying asleep through the night , or waking up too early .
A survey of nearly 1,000 people by SleepHelp.org found that 22 percent of responders have had poorer quality sleep due to the pandemic , and a third said their sleep troubles stemmed from the news coverage they consumed .
In China , health care workers were reportedly prone to sleeplessness and experienced feelings of depression , anxiousness , and stress-based trauma .
The coronavirus , it seems @ @ @ @ @ @ @ storm of sleep problems , ” according to one Stanford sleep researcher .
In pre-pandemic times , about 30 to 35 percent of adults suffer from insomnia , and most are short-term conditions that can be resolved without professional help .
( Medical professionals and sleep experts generally recommend about seven to nine hours of sleep each night . )
The inability to fall asleep can be frustrating , especially in the midst of a pandemic with no end in sight .
If you ’ re an insomniac , you ’ ve probably @ @ @ @ @ @ @ along the lines of “ How to fall asleep ” instead of actually falling asleep .
I spoke to Bill Fish , a certified sleep specialist and managing editor at SleepFoundation.org , about those struggling with sleep and lifestyle changes .
Here is his best advice to achieve more restful nights .
How has staying inside affected our sleep patterns ?
It ’ s interesting to see a progression of the pandemic from a mental health and sleep perspective .
Within the first three weeks , starting in early to mid-March , there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about sleep , but as we got into the stay-at-home orders for two to three weeks , people have really started to notice they weren ’ t sleeping as well and have had trouble sleeping .
There are all kinds of factors at play that cause insomnia in people .
For those of us who are fortunate to be working from home , we ’ ve lost the structure of our daily lives .
We don ’ t have an external reality , so to speak .
What a lot of people have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bed at 10:30 and getting up at 6:30 , there ’ s no longer a big motivator to get up at 6:30 .
While that can be good to some extent , at the end of the day , all adults should be getting between seven to nine hours of sleep on a nightly basis .
If you ’ re getting any more than that , you could wake up feeling lethargic and not really yourself .
Our bodies have become trained to know and prepare for the sleep process .
With more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ later in the morning , their bodies after about two to three weeks have redialed , and that doesn ’ t even take into consideration the health and the financial stress the pandemic has caused .
What tips do you have for people struggling with insomnia ?
My biggest thing is schedule — encouraging someone to get back to a sense of normalcy .
I have two sons who just want to stay up all night and play video games because they can ’ t see their friends .
I have to explain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ healthy for them to stay up .
If your body is used to you waking up early , consider adopting that habit again .
All of us , and our bodies , are trying to figure out what this “ new normal ” is , and what I push for is to try and do everything you can to get back to your old bedtime .
If you ’ ve messed up your sleep pattern , I ’ d recommend trying to change it in increments of 10 or 15 minutes a night @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were before .
At one point , kids are going to go back to school and people are going to go back to work , so we can train our bodies by the repetition of going to sleep at the same time and waking up at the same time .
It might not cure all insomnia , but it ’ ll give you a better chance of success .
That ’ s why I suggest not watching television or scrolling on your phone in your bed .
It ’ s about creating that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ between sleep , leisure , and work that ’ s now occurring in the same building .
It ’ s hard , though .
Even my wife does it ; she sits with her headphones on and watches a show in bed .
Can you explain how a lack of sleep affects a person ’ s immunity ?
Sleep is considered the third pillar of wellness along with diet and exercise .
Those are the three most important factors to keep us healthy .
When we get ready to sleep , our body @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tire .
When we aren ’ t getting that full night of sleep , our immune system isn ’ t producing as much of an effective response to fight against other infections or viruses .
We really want people to get those seven to nine hours of sleep to stay as healthy as they can .
What tips do you have to improve a person ’ s quality of sleep , not just the duration of sleep ?
I ’ m a believer that people should turn their bedrooms into a sleep sanctuary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the rest of your life .
Set up your bedroom so that it ’ s intended for sleep .
Clean up around your sleeping area , since your mind might race if there ’ s clutter in the room .
Consider charging your phone in another room , and don ’ t watch television before bed .
Give yourself at least 45 minutes away from screens before you go to bed , so maybe read a book or keep a journal — just something to allow your mind to calm down before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is cool and that it ’ s as dark as possible .
I ’ m a fan of a white noise machine ; you can buy it online for $ 20 and plug it in beside your bed to create a steady stream of white noise , which can mask any external sound that might jolt you out of sleep .
The machine can help you stay in sleep and help you feel more refreshed when you wake up in the morning .
Since more people are staying home and , as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ does that affect our sleep ?
The key is to get 30 minutes of some form of cardio movement or even just walking .
The human body is not meant to sit at a desk all day .
Think about it like how a dog needs to be walked every day .
We have to get this energy out of our bodies so we are physically tired by the time we get to bed each night .
I do get the question a lot of when you should be exercising , and there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ none of them are really conclusive as to what point of the day you should be exercising .
You should have your body temperature back to normal , and not be out of breath at least 45 minutes before bed .
It doesn ’ t make sense to run a few miles right before your bedtime .
Are there certain foods or substances like caffeine that might affect a person ’ s sleep ?
You shouldn ’ t have any caffeine at least three to four hours before bed so it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , you shouldn ’ t be eating anything within an hour of going to bed because your body needs to digest your food and makes it more difficult for you to fall asleep .
Eating spicy foods that could possibly cause indigestion doesn ’ t make a lot of sense .
I would stay away from caffeine , and I ’ ve read a lot of stories that people are drinking more during the pandemic .
That ’ s really not good for your sleep .
While alcohol might help you get to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of sleep you want , as the alcohol leaves your system , a lot of people tend to wake up in the middle of the night .
As the pandemic becomes the “ new normal , ” how do you think it will affect our sleeping habits ?
It gives us the opportunity to get the recommended amount of sleep .
The vast majority of people have a commute , and they used to spend a lot of time in the car , in the subway , or on a train .
Now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will go back to work eventually , we don ’ t know how quickly that ’ ll be and whether it ’ ll be five days a week or less .
It takes away the excuse of saying , “ Well , I don ’ t have the ability to get eight hours of sleep a night.
” Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
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On a recent FaceTime call, my friend Jon told me that he hadn’t had a satisfyingly restful night of sleep since March, before the stay-at-home orders and the wave of coronavirus cases hit the US. He’s taken sleeping aids, exercised before bed, and listened to ASMR videos but to no avail; he couldn’t manage to turn his brain off until 2 or 3 am on most nights.
Jon isn’t alone in his sleeplessness. While many people have anecdotally reported having startlingly vivid dreams in quarantine, some are struggling with what feels like incurable insomnia, whether that manifests as difficulty falling asleep, trouble staying asleep through the night, or waking up too early.
A survey of nearly 1,000 people by SleepHelp.org found that 22 percent of responders have had poorer quality sleep due to the pandemic, and a third said their sleep troubles stemmed from the news coverage they consumed. In China, health care workers were reportedly prone to sleeplessness and experienced feelings of depression, anxiousness, and stress-based trauma. The coronavirus, it seems, has conjured up “a perfect storm of sleep problems,” according to one Stanford sleep researcher.
In pre-pandemic times, about 30 to 35 percent of adults suffer from insomnia, and most are short-term conditions that can be resolved without professional help. (Medical professionals and sleep experts generally recommend about seven to nine hours of sleep each night.) The inability to fall asleep can be frustrating, especially in the midst of a pandemic with no end in sight. If you’re an insomniac, you’ve probably spent at least one night Googling something along the lines of “How to fall asleep” instead of actually falling asleep.
I spoke to Bill Fish, a certified sleep specialist and managing editor at SleepFoundation.org, about those struggling with sleep and lifestyle changes. Here is his best advice to achieve more restful nights.
How has staying inside affected our sleep patterns?
It’s interesting to see a progression of the pandemic from a mental health and sleep perspective. Within the first three weeks, starting in early to mid-March, there wasn’t a lot of talk about sleep, but as we got into the stay-at-home orders for two to three weeks, people have really started to notice they weren’t sleeping as well and have had trouble sleeping. There are all kinds of factors at play that cause insomnia in people. For those of us who are fortunate to be working from home, we’ve lost the structure of our daily lives. We don’t have an external reality, so to speak.
What a lot of people have started doing, instead of going to bed at 10:30 and getting up at 6:30, there’s no longer a big motivator to get up at 6:30. While that can be good to some extent, at the end of the day, all adults should be getting between seven to nine hours of sleep on a nightly basis.
If you’re getting any more than that, you could wake up feeling lethargic and not really yourself. Our bodies have become trained to know and prepare for the sleep process. With more people staying up at night and sleeping later in the morning, their bodies after about two to three weeks have redialed, and that doesn’t even take into consideration the health and the financial stress the pandemic has caused.
What tips do you have for people struggling with insomnia?
My biggest thing is schedule — encouraging someone to get back to a sense of normalcy. I have two sons who just want to stay up all night and play video games because they can’t see their friends. I have to explain to them that it’s not healthy for them to stay up. If your body is used to you waking up early, consider adopting that habit again. All of us, and our bodies, are trying to figure out what this “new normal” is, and what I push for is to try and do everything you can to get back to your old bedtime. If you’ve messed up your sleep pattern, I’d recommend trying to change it in increments of 10 or 15 minutes a night until you get back to where you were before.
At one point, kids are going to go back to school and people are going to go back to work, so we can train our bodies by the repetition of going to sleep at the same time and waking up at the same time. It might not cure all insomnia, but it’ll give you a better chance of success.
That’s why I suggest not watching television or scrolling on your phone in your bed. It’s about creating that separation in your waking and sleeping environments between sleep, leisure, and work that’s now occurring in the same building. It’s hard, though. Even my wife does it; she sits with her headphones on and watches a show in bed.
Can you explain how a lack of sleep affects a person’s immunity?
Sleep is considered the third pillar of wellness along with diet and exercise. Those are the three most important factors to keep us healthy. When we get ready to sleep, our body produces melatonin, which causes us to tire. When we aren’t getting that full night of sleep, our immune system isn’t producing as much of an effective response to fight against other infections or viruses. We really want people to get those seven to nine hours of sleep to stay as healthy as they can.
What tips do you have to improve a person’s quality of sleep, not just the duration of sleep?
I’m a believer that people should turn their bedrooms into a sleep sanctuary. Create a separation of your bedroom from the rest of your life. Set up your bedroom so that it’s intended for sleep. Clean up around your sleeping area, since your mind might race if there’s clutter in the room. Consider charging your phone in another room, and don’t watch television before bed.
Give yourself at least 45 minutes away from screens before you go to bed, so maybe read a book or keep a journal — just something to allow your mind to calm down before bed. Make sure that your room is cool and that it’s as dark as possible. I’m a fan of a white noise machine; you can buy it online for $20 and plug it in beside your bed to create a steady stream of white noise, which can mask any external sound that might jolt you out of sleep. The machine can help you stay in sleep and help you feel more refreshed when you wake up in the morning.
Since more people are staying home and, as a result, are more sedentary, how does that affect our sleep?
The key is to get 30 minutes of some form of cardio movement or even just walking. The human body is not meant to sit at a desk all day. Think about it like how a dog needs to be walked every day. We have to get this energy out of our bodies so we are physically tired by the time we get to bed each night.
I do get the question a lot of when you should be exercising, and there are a bunch of studies, but none of them are really conclusive as to what point of the day you should be exercising. You should have your body temperature back to normal, and not be out of breath at least 45 minutes before bed. It doesn’t make sense to run a few miles right before your bedtime.
Are there certain foods or substances like caffeine that might affect a person’s sleep?
You shouldn’t have any caffeine at least three to four hours before bed so it’s out of your system, and really, you shouldn’t be eating anything within an hour of going to bed because your body needs to digest your food and makes it more difficult for you to fall asleep. Eating spicy foods that could possibly cause indigestion doesn’t make a lot of sense. I would stay away from caffeine, and I’ve read a lot of stories that people are drinking more during the pandemic. That’s really not good for your sleep. While alcohol might help you get to sleep a little quicker, the quality of sleep you want, as the alcohol leaves your system, a lot of people tend to wake up in the middle of the night.
As the pandemic becomes the “new normal,” how do you think it will affect our sleeping habits?
It gives us the opportunity to get the recommended amount of sleep. The vast majority of people have a commute, and they used to spend a lot of time in the car, in the subway, or on a train. Now that’s gone. While we will go back to work eventually, we don’t know how quickly that’ll be and whether it’ll be five days a week or less. It takes away the excuse of saying, “Well, I don’t have the ability to get eight hours of sleep a night.”