Locked-down digital work

Covid-19 and the related lockdown in many countries made digital work no longer just an option, but the new norm for many office workers who began to make sense of a new range of benefits of digital work tools. Based on my own observations and on observations shared by executives in New Zealand and Europe, I illustrate in this article how the lockdown acted as a facilitator for digital work. Further, I show how the lockdown gave many individuals a flawed impression of digital work, i.e. their experience occurred during exceptional circumstances and led them to draw false conclusions about digital work. I examine some misconceptions of locked-down digital work and discuss the implications of locked-down digital work for research and practice.