It was always a given that an event as monumental as a global pandemic would change our lives irrevocably.
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Many of the things we thought we'd never get used to - seeing people wearing masks, if not continuing to wear them ourselves, for example - are things we now take for granted. By the same token, many of the things we always took for granted - freedom of movement, social contact - are now ever more appreciated, even if we move forward at a steady clip with COVID all but in the rearview mirror.
But when it comes to the modern workplace, things will never be the same. As new research shows, a huge number of people benefited from working from home.
These included people with disabilities, those with caring responsibilities, those for whom the daily commute was prohibitively expensive and the legions of people who found they were substantially more productive away from the traditional open-plan office.
The self-reporting survey of more than 5000 people by University of NSW Canberra's Public Service Research Group found that the newfound flexibility afforded by the home office had changed their attitude to work.
And a great many had no plans to return to their pre-COVID arrangements, with more and more workplaces opting to encourage flexibility wherever possible.
The last three years have shown that we must nurture flexible working conditions, now that we know it's possible.
It's interesting to note that the timing of the pandemic was fortuitous in terms of where we're at with technology; a decade earlier, and technology probably wouldn't have allowed for virtual meetings and online content management systems.
And again on timing, we are not quite through the pandemic, with a new wave sweeping through the community, and many people opting to switch back to working remotely.
But while flexible workplaces are, broadly speaking, a positive development, working remotely does have its downsides. There is, for example, a corresponding lack of social engagement once a person is away from the office, and this is not always a positive thing. Those who are absent from the physical workplace may also find themselves inevitably sidelined in favour of colleagues who are there in person.
And there is also the insidious blurring of the lines between home and work. If your office is in the home, you may find yourself moving back and forth seamlessly between the two, with no clean break to delineate work from the domestic sphere.
According to the survey, this was especially the case with women, who were working longer hours at home than men, pointing to many agencies and workplaces needing to work on curbing excessive hours.
But then, people with disabilities or ongoing health problems benefited hugely, reporting higher productivity across the board, with the bonus of being able to manage health conditions more consistently. And families across the board were the biggest proponents, with a much more effective combination of work and caring responsibilities.
These benefits should always be taken into account when managing workplaces in a post-COVID world, but so too should the downsides. Not everyone benefits from low social contact, even or especially with colleagues. And not all workplaces function best when employees are physically scattered. There will always be a case for physical proximity when it comes to communicating and working effectively.
But the last three years have shown that we must nurture flexible working conditions, now that we know it's possible.
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