Does Today Seem Normal to You?

“Whatever happens in the months ahead, we should assume that we will eventually emerge from the current chaos into a differently ordered society, economy, and business environment. A simple return to the way things were before this crisis appears to be extremely unlikely. Too much has been learned. Too much has been endured by too many. And too bright a spotlight has been placed on too many systemic tensions, weaknesses, and failures of the prevailing order.”

This quote from the Deloitte whitepaper titled, “Recharting our course: The evolving focus of business leaders in a challenging world” written by Eamonn Kelly and Jason Girzadas explains why I hate the term, “the new norm.” 

There will be nothing “normal” about our work/life for a long time.

Too many things are changing all at once.

Think about the old days, as long ago as a whole four months before I am typing this in July 2020. Just think of your average day, way back then.

You got up, showered, got dressed in your collared shirt, nice pants, shined shoes, and went downstairs to greet your family.

Your two school-aged kids were all ready for the school bus, your partner was on their way out the door to go to a client meeting, and you would grab your coffee and take the kids to where they got their bus on your way to the office. 

Can you remember those days of yore?

A tad bit different now, huh?

THIS morning, you got up, maybe you showered, perhaps you didn’t.

You threw on a t-shirt, some shorts, and your flip-flops and ambled downstairs.

Your kids were at the kitchen table, headphones on and, (you hoped) attending their on-line class.

The partner was in their office, with the door open, on a Zoom call (NO headphones) with three other people (all from their homes). Meanwhile, on her second screen, they were busily answering emails.

You grabbed your coffee and went downstairs to the basement, where you have put a desk in the family room to act as your remote “office” to start your day.

Sound about right?

Does this sound or feel “normal” to you?

And this is just the start of your day. Let’s not go into the masking every time you go to the Starbuck’s, the social distancing you practice when you take a walk. The double-dates you have with friends ON ZOOM.

But what can you do, this is the New Status Quo (NSQ). It is just the way it is.

And that is precisely how the Oxford English Dictionary defines the term Status Quo.

Oxford states:  Status Quo; The existing state of affairs, especially regarding social or political issues.”

So, in other words, the NSQ is what is. It is the time between right now and whenever Normal happens. And it could be years.

In an essay in the World Economic Forum (WEF) entitled “Work: The Pandemic that Stopped the World.” Sharan Burrow, General-Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation, Brussels Belgium, states, “All of these factors require us to push the reset button on our world and to ensure a just transition to a better future. That transition needs to address all the convergent crises….based on the real needs of people for health, economic security, and respect for their human rights. 

How long does will it take to “reset our world?”

The NSQ will be with us for much longer than we want to admit to ourselves and will affect many areas of our lives. Here are just three.

Where we work

On 27 July 2020, Google announced they would be keeping employees working from home, worldwide, until at least July 2021. At least, until that time.

Later in the week, Apple announced that they would not be returning to their offices until the beginning of 2021, at a minimum, while “Mark Zuckerberg said there's 'no end in sight' for when employees will be able to return to the office.”

This reinforces that the NSQ will be with us for a long time.

Stability of our jobs and our ability to take care of our families

In the same WEF essay I mentioned above, Ms. Burrow predicts, “And now we have COVID 19 and the very real potential for over 300 million formal economy jobs lost, and 1.5 livelihoods lost in the informal economy. The UN is warning of famine of “biblical proportions.”

Our mental health

Recently, a Google employee posted a poll on the social network Blind asking people if remote work was hurting their mental health? 

For those who are unfamiliar with Blind, they describe themselves this way: “Blind is an anonymous community app for the workplace. Our vision in creating this space was to break down professional barriers and hierarchy.” 

Blind has an anonymous community of employees from over 70,000 companies, and thousands of startups! 

The Google employee got more than 9,700 responses from companies large and small and from all over the globe. Some of their answers:

·      Nearly two-thirds of the respondents said they were feeling stressed by working from home.

·      More than 80% of the respondents from some of the largest companies on the planet’s employees (Facebook, Yahoo, Airbnb LinkedIn, Goldman Sachs, Oracle) stated the same.

·      Generally, Blind posts its own polls, so the fact that a Google employee asked this one is unique. Blind described the more than 800 comments as “free-flow emotional responses that show how personal all these obstacles feel.”

·      A Siemens employee wrote: “I think everyone is starting to feel the pinch. The sad thing is no one knows when this is going to end. That’s the most frustrating part.”

·      A Facebook employee wrote: “I just struggle being alone all day. Feel so down and lonely, the sad thing is no one knows when this is going to end.”

THIS is why I hate the term “The New Normal” as a descriptor for the time we are living.

The New Status Quo is a phrase much closer to the truth. New Status Quo = The New What Is. 

This above article is a portion of the 30-page study we at Q4 Consulting produced called, "How to get from today's New Status Quo to the Next Normal. A guide to successfully making the transition." Click on the link (https://amzn.to/2CmibNw ) to get your copy.