COVID-19 reality shows it works to work from home. Make it last beyond the pandemic.

As a deadly virus swept across the nation last year, a vast and unanticipated social experiment was launched. Well more than half of American workers tried to see whether they could work just as effectively from home.

Early indications show that it was not only a success, but there's even evidence productivity was actually boosted. Millions were suddenly liberated from the tyranny of the commute. They could set their own work hours, leave business wardrobes in the closet and discover a less frenzied pace to the workweek.

And while child care might have remained an issue – someone still had to mind the youngest ones while mom was on Zoom (yes, women were disproportionately affected) – there were now more neighborhood walks, maybe a jigsaw puzzle on the dining room table or some prized element of personality newly uncovered in a son or daughter.

Productive at home

It was nothing short of transformative for the American workplace, shattering timeworn notions that a business is a business only if people travel from miles in every direction to gather in one physical location because, well, that's the way it has always been done.

Die-hard traditionalists still argued that only in a room in a city where workers assemble can there be premium work.

“Over the long run, companies think those interactions and sharing ideas (in the office) create a better product," says Andy Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which specializes in job placements.

Pamela Cone, who works in business solutions for Carenet Health in San Antonio, started returning to the office in April. "There is a lot of synergy when we get together," Cone says. "It's tough to duplicate those 'ah ha' moments when you are in a conference room."

But ideas can be generated just as effectively through such evolving and improving technology as Google Docs, Zoom and Slack. A Harvard Business School study showed at-home employees put in, on average, nearly 50 minutes of additional work per day. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that productivity in the private nonfarm sector rose in 45 states last year.

There were certainly problems for some with poor internet connection or a lack of access to online meeting services. But at the same time, the technology is vastly improving. A new interface concept from a company called Argodesign would allow at-home workers to lift a shade over a an artificial window, created from an LCD screen that goes on the wall next to a desk, and see colleagues busy beside them.

Privileged nonessential workforce

To be clear, working remotely was a privileged fallback for only a portion of the nation's workforce. There were millions who never had the chance to work from home, necessary as they were in medical, delivery, transportation and food services, and in factories, stores and crop fields. They were appropriately feted in a New York ticker-tape parade this month.

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But for a smaller portion of blue-collar workers and the vast majority of white-collar employees, working remotely has become a fact of life:

►75% told pollsters they either want to stay home or spend only a portion of the week in the office.

►A third said they might even quit if forced to resume their commutes.

►36% said they value at-home employment more than a pay raise.

In a tight labor market, most large businesses are now saying they'll allow at least part of their workforce to stay at home. Companies like the real estate marketplace Zillow are already well positioned to take advantage of this trend. Zillow announced last year that 90% of its employees could work from home at least part of the week. Applications in the first quarter of 2021 jumped by 50%.

The reality is that American workers have stumbled upon a new freedom in the wake of a terrible pandemic, and a good many are now rightly loath to give it up. It will give new meaning to celebrating Labor Day this September – from home.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID-19 social distancing reality shows it works to work from home