Labor Day reminds us that the way we work has changed in the past few months more than it did over the last century. But certain things remain the same: the fight for equal opportunity for all. 

By Silvina Moschini, President and Founder of TransparentBusiness

There are certain holidays that are remembered more as a day off than for the event they commemorate. Labor Day is a classic example of that. 

On a day like Today, but in 1882, more than 10,000 workers from New York City marched to draw awareness to their rights calling for fair wages and an eight-hour workday, among other things. The parade that ended in a picnic became a tradition, especially because the holiday falls on the weekend that symbolizes the end of summer, one of the last chances to enjoy a gorgeous day in the big apple. 

This year, picnics are not what they used to be nor it is the way we work. Traditional work routines have been radically transformed by the coronavirus pandemic. 

More than a century ago, by the end of the 19th century, a legion of cigar makers, printers, shoemakers, bricklayers, and other tradespeople came together to fight for their rights and Covid-19 abolished the idea of work as a place. 

When the pandemic forced us to stay at home, thousands of million of companies from all around the globe were pushed into work-from-home models to secure business continuity. Since the outbreak, remote work changed from a “nice to have” perk to a “must-have” solution to sustain the economy.

As months went by, the shift towards remote work continued. A recent OpsRamp survey showed that despite the volatile economic environment, 73% of IT operations and DevOps teams expect to either accelerate or maintain their digital transformation spending through the global pandemic. 

Sandy Shen, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner, the research company that revealed also this month that three out of four CFOs plan to shift at least 5% of previously on-site employees to permanently remote positions post-COVID: “This is a wake-up call for organizations that have placed too much focus on daily operational needs at the expense of investing in digital business and long-term resilience. 

Businesses that shift their technology capacity and investments onto digital platforms will mitigate the impact of the outbreak and keep their companies running smoothly now, and over the long term.”

Today, building a strong remote culture is everyone’s priority. As President and Founder of TransparentBusiness, a remote-first company dedicated to enable companies around the world to manage remote teams, I witnessed the challenges that many team leaders are still facing to digitally manage their teams. Covid-19 accelerated our growth exponentially and prompted us to become a key ally for the management of the geographically distributed workforce in a transparent and verifiable manner. We became the operating system of the remote workforce.

Work from home is here to stay. And despite the fact that we are going through very challenging times, the silver-lining of the current crisis was brought by technology and its power to level the playground. In the digital world we are living Today, technology is opening-up equal job opportunities for everyone, with no walls and no geographical barriers. In crisis also lies the opportunity. Let’s seize the moment and Happy Remote Labor Day!