My world: June 2021…

This is part of a series of articles where our contributors describe how they think things will look a year from now.

While the accelerated shift online will dent retail space it will benefit logistics – and offices will show recovery in 2021

There is no doubt that the coronavirus crisis is unlike anything we have seen before. 

Although the economic shock has been caused by public health fears rather than a financial crash, a recession is either here or coming. Despite the extensive government stimulus package and ongoing support for families and companies, it is difficult to predict what the world will look like in 12 months’ time. Our day- to-day lives changed drastically overnight, and we have been left with little clarity on when things may return to ‘normal’. JK Galbraith famously said that “there are two kinds of forecasters: those who don’t know, and those who don’t know that they don’t know”. Speculation is therefore our only current course of action.

The immediate changes are obvious. We have all had to adapt suddenly to new ways of working. Remote and home working have become the new normal, and it seems this format could remain for much of the year. Companies may start to rotate teams of employees back into their offices, but since productivity levels have been maintained despite remote working we may see more flexibility around the working day even when measures are relaxed.