We've all seen the headlines: massive companies like SalesForce, Facebook, and Twitter continue dominating the national news with stories of their workforces going entirely remote. Everyone from workers to leaders are hungry to figure out what the future of work might look like, yet so much of this conversation is about the distant future post-COVID, where every company allows every employee to work from home.

It's true. For many of us, remote work may be the future. We can safely continue our lives from the comfort of our own spaces. But for millions of Americans, the "future of work" isn't remote. It literally can't be.

• Remote learning is taking a serious mental, physical, financial and emotional toll on American families. Schools need effective ways to reopen classrooms while keeping students, faculty and staff safe.
• Assisted living and senior care facilities rely on the physical presence of staff to keep our loved ones healthy. They must be able to take swift action to prevent community spread and protect those vulnerable to the severe impacts of COVID-19.
• Sports fans desperately want to return to stadiums, but these spaces need employees physically present to make that happen.
• Grocery store workers have never been able to go remote, and have suffered outbreaks as a consequence.

The focus on remote work as the future of work is often rooted in false assumptions about how the workforce realistically functions in the here and now; during this pandemic, only some can work from home while the workers who make that change possible (store employees, manufacturers, medical researchers, etc) must still come to a specific physical space.