Flexibility is the new great workplace divide

A YEAR HAS passed since many developed economies locked down and office workers, like Bartleby, started to toil from home. This was a plague that launched a thousand forecasts, with pundits predicting everything from a revolution in working lives to an eventual return to normal.Some of these predictions are already being tested. The crisis has accelerated existing trends, such as the move from cash to digital payments. Delivery driving will, as many people foretold, be a big source of jobs, at least until the arrival of self-driving lorries. Bricks-and-mortar shops will not. Despite the talk of remote working, many sectors, from construction and manufacturing to emergency services, will still bring their workers into a central location.