The coronavirus pandemic is already changing the way that American businesses operate, at least temporarily. But look closely, and you can see the potential for long-lasting changes even after life returns to normal.
One of these shifts might just mean the end of the traditional insurance office.
Pandemic-related lockdowns have already forced many major companies to expand work-from-home policies on a short-term basis. Having tried it, some employees and their bosses are considering more permanent changes.
Nationwide Mutual Insurance is going even further. One of the leading life insurance and retirement companies, it moved 98% of its 27,000 employees to working from home in less than a week in early March.