Median Age of the Population - A Metric to Define If Remote Work Is Sustainable?
I stumbled across some interesting macroeconomic data when digging deeper into remote working trends -
Median age of an Indian citizen: ~28 yrs
Median age of a UK citizen: ~41 yrs
Median age of a US citizen: ~40 yrs
Median age of Singapore citizen: ~42 yrs
Median age of Nigerian citizen: ~19 yrs
Why is this important?
The average Indian has been part of the work force for only 6-7 yrs, whereas the average citizen for most other parts of the world has been working for almost 15-20 yrs.
In India (And possibly any young economy), this will be a big challenge for sustained remote working. Hiring and training fresh graduates, and enabling them to do their best work is much easier to do in person vs fully via the internet. It takes a while to learn the soft skills required to succeed in any company - Networking and building lasting connections, navigating team structures and organization hierarchy, and learning the tricks to overcome office politics ;).
Also, younger people can’t yet afford a home and lifestyle which can support working from home. Most of them are sharing flats with tiny rooms (or living with parents) and aren’t the best fit for working.
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Besides, young people are showing an eagerness to return to the office! Many want to experience the vibrancy of cities and the energy of working in an office :)
When your population is older, you have a people who have mostly ‘been there, done that’. An experienced workforce who have already built strong networks, and have the maturity and infrastructure to work fully remote.
In a nutshell -
Countries which have younger population will likely prefer working in office, compared to countries with older population, which is likely to prefer working remote.
Any thoughts on this hypothesis? Would love to hear your thoughts!