Trend Watch December 2020

Google allowing employees to hold some meetings outdoors:

Google has begun holding in-person meetings outdoors on company campuses as it prepares for employees to return to offices next year, according to CNBC.

The company said it is trialing socially-distanced meeting formats called “onsite off-sites” as it tries to find ways to hold more employee collaboration amid the pandemic, and to bring aboard new hires.

Google was the first major tech company to ask employees to stay home when the pandemic started, and is now experimenting with ways to gather people on campuses slowly and safely. It gave workers the option to work from home until summer of 2021.

In September, after finding that most employees wanted to return in a part-time capacity, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the company would try ‘hybrid’ work-from-home models, including rearranging office settings.

Read more in the CNBC article.

Image: Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California by David Nagle, Wikimedia Commons.

Bill Gates predicts the pandemic will change the world in 7 dramatic ways:

Five years ago Bill Gates delivered a TED Talk on the likelihood of a future global pandemic, and best practice strategies to prepare for it. Thanks to that talk he is now regarded as one of the most prophetic voices on the threat of new diseases.

The Microsoft founder-turned-philanthropist has launched a new podcast with actor Rashida Jones to discuss “pressing problems” – their first episode covering a vision of life after Covid-19.

In a discussion with infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, Gates described his top seven predictions:

1. Remote meetings will be normalised.
2. Software will have improved dramatically.
3. Companies may share an office on rotation.
4. We’ll choose to live in different places.
5. You’ll socialise less at work, and more in your own community.
6. Things won’t go totally back to normal for a long time.
7. The next pandemic won’t be nearly as bad.

Read more about his thoughts in the Inc.com article. Also see their story, ‘Why you should be sceptical of post-pandemic predictions.’

Image: GatesNotes.