In collaboration with The Dock, authors of The Future Home of the 5G Era conducted an in-depth research series and developed a tool that allows companies of all sizes and with all priorities consider the key impacts of the past 16 months on their workforce.

With the onset of working from home, we’ve become more connected and reliant on our technology devices than ever before. Our devices are a lifeline: they help us work, stay connected to friends and family and entertained. Our study shows that when remote workers think about their CSP, their experience is linked to the service they receive. CSPs have a valuable opportunity to reshape this narrative between CSPs and their remote workforce consumers.

Our homes have become much more than simply our havens. They are now our gyms, our schools, and our entertainment hubs. People are changing and adapting their homes to accommodate their increased consumption of activities and events. Now is the chance for CSPs to capture the opportunity to bring traditionally outside-the-home experiences such as the gym, the cinema and the restaurant, into a new experience.

The ideal working environment is now a single purpose, separate space. People want to either shut off distractions to get work done or shut off work to enjoy their home life. People expect all elements of their remote work life run as productively and efficiently as it would in an office. Strong connectivity, security and other work considerations have shifted to those working from home. There is a unique opportunity for CSPs to develop partnerships with other companies to replicate the rounded experience of the office environment at home.

Could the virtual work trend potentially be setting women back years in terms of pay and progression in the professional workplace? With women still bearing most of the domestic burden, working from home is presenting fewer benefits for women than men. Women have seen their earnings decline almost two thirds more sharply than men, dropping by 16.5% on average since the pandemic began, compared with a drop of 10.1% for men.