COVID-19 has changed our lives drastically without any doubt. But, which of these changes are permanent and here to stay? Post-pandemic work life can be quite stressful as we are getting used to the present condition and situation. We assume this “new normal” lifestyle will remain unchanged.
It’s almost a year now that COVID-19 has occupied the world, our lives and the way we used to be. Did we predict how much it would change? Did we know how important the internet and the online system would become to us? Well, it has become a part of our everyday life and changed how the workplace functions forever.
Now we know what the workplace and work-life will look like in the future. With the global lockdown in place, we need to forecast what the future at the workplace will look like. Not only the managers and business leaders but the employees also should know what has to be done to accommodate the future-forward mentality. Let’s take a peek into the work-life after COVID-19.
Affect of COVID-19 on different industries
The sales, production and cash flow of the majority of the industries have been affected significantly during this pandemic. Not only that, some industries were forced to shut down due to the financial crisis as they struggled to stay afloat. But not every industry is affected in the same way.
Although all the businesses will be more or less affected by the same storm, these businesses are in different boats. The most affected businesses are the airline/airport, tourism industries, hotels, universities that rely on international industries and property investors. At the same time, internet providers, network providers, retail, supermarkets and other technology companies are making huge profits.
With the increase in demand for online services such as restaurants offering takeaway options, or supermarkets providing home delivery options for the groceries and stuff, there has been a call to have more delivery drivers. People working from home are more into buying furniture to set them all up working in an office kind of environment at home.
Flexible working
There’s no denying that working from home has become a new fashion and is normal nowadays. But it is quite stressing and difficult to work from home. Although it may let you stay at home for some time, working with kids and other people in the house can be a total disaster for some. Research has shown that 8 out of 10 people would like to work remotely at least once a week whereas most of them confess their productivity remains the same despite all the chaos and distractions around them. In fact, this is how some businesses are planning to operate post-pandemic and permanently shift into remote work.
Businesses planning to hire more people for remote jobs will need to modify their hiring process and so acquiring various checks such as police checks will become a necessity. The checks will either be sent to the directed company, or the applicant can receive it first and then send it to the company. An online service that I recently obtained my own Australian police check from was at www.australiannationalcharactercheck.com.au and the process took around 14 minutes. I must say I was quite satisfied at the speed in which my check came back – it was lodged in the morning and returned in the afternoon.
“Essential” businesses that require employees to be in the workplace
Some businesses such as the retailer and supermarkets have been enlisted as essential businesses as they need to remain open during this pandemic. So the future of these critical industries seems to be different as they need to have face-to-face, hands-on interactions.
These industries will change how they operate and modify their rules accordingly. They will need to change their opening hours, practice better workplace hygiene and of course, maintain social distancing of 1.5-2 meters.
Another major change will be in the employee rosters or schedules as more people travel by public transports during the peak hours. This means the employees will need to consider staggering their working hours or shifts or maybe even the days accordingly.
Temperature checking at the workplace is already in fashion but will continue to remain post-pandemic. Not to forget, hand sanitization is here to stay forever.
While all these seem logical and not a fiction, some industries will face a shortage of employees while some are not restricted to local borders. They look to hire as they face a talent shortage and the hiring manager has all the responsibilities. The search for the right candidate is challenging, but with the right hiring procedure, the perfect industry-fit candidate can be found. With pre-employment checks and criminal background checks, it is possible to find them not only in the country but also globally.
With virtualization and use of digital tools, employees don’t need to limit the workers on a particular project as they don’t have to be a local employee and work in the office. They can easily get a freelancer or a contractor to perform the duties remotely from anywhere.
Is digital transformation a positive thing?
It’s good to see a lot of digital transformation around different sectors and industries. But at the same time, there is a question of cybercrime and how much cybersecurity do we have. As most of the industries are being forced into digital transformation, the rise of cybercrime is a matter to consider. How much are we exposing ourselves to the cyber world?
Travelling for business purposes or business meetings will become a thing of the past with the various video conferencing and team meeting technologies. This will save the company some travel expenses and boost profit.
The need to take a glance beyond COVID-19
The mental health and wellbeing of people have been affected by this pandemic as much as the worldwide economy. It will take a while since everyone will have lived the same as before. This opportunity must be taken up and turned into something good.
Many people won’t deny the fact that COVID-19 has done a little good in some peoples life. They confess that they got some time to spend with their families, balancing well between work and life. These are some things that one will not regret.
Bottom line
A massive change has taken place in every industry but in different ways. But the huge transformation that took place in the digital industry is worth mentioning. The non-tech savvy people have learned ways to utilize this situation and learn something new. But looking forward to life after COVID-19, we must say this is indeed the technology era.