How’s the pandemic going for you?

We’ve been around Covid-19 for more than two years now. Even if the pandemic is still there, we have learned to accept the “new normal” as the way that we interact, conduct business, and communicate. The way we live and work has altered substantially, with ups and downs, an initial time of dread and panic, and a progressive slackening of laws and restrictions.

Most people appreciated the chance to work from home. Many people were happy to not have to return to the workplace since it allowed them to manage their time differently, save money on their commute, or spend more time with their families.

Nobody anticipated what would happen next. Burnouts also risen along with productivity. Despite the impending economic crisis, jobs soared and a genuine labour movement took place. Downs and ups. (I purposefully left out the situation in the Ukraine.)

Nearly three years later, many businesses use a hybrid model where employees work a combination of hours remotely and in the office. Others run entirely remotely. All seems well, yet there is another factor at work.?

Disconnection is becoming a more worrisome problem. Especially if you base your work on soft skills. Leadership, coaching, and mentoring roles become increasingly challenging as it becomes more difficult to forge bonds with your teams. And such teams don’t actually become teams unless they already have a connection. Instead, they transform into groups of people engaged in pseudo virtual collaborative work online. Voices without a face. Conversations without emotion. We run the genuine risk of becoming a professionally detached society, which will increase burnout.

Burnout is a generic term for different types of ailments affecting people exposed to prolonged emotional and physical stress, culminated in exhaustion and feelings of inefficiency.

On top of that, people are more and more isolated in their own homes, adding to said burnout. Imposter syndrome, lack of commitment, difficulty in focus, employees feel more and more disconnected than ever. The question is: “What to do?”. Should we go back to what we had? Surely not, as the recorded increase in productivity is real (although much more stabilized now), and also the fact that both employees and companies could lower their expenses and, consequently, fight off a little bit of the incoming big crisis.

Personally, I feel that each role’s or job’s appropriate hybrid model should be the alternative. No one size fits everyone. even within the same business. Certain positions ought to be performed more internally. It is evident that others may be done so in a remote model. However, each situation should be examined individually, and the employees should actively participate in choosing the best course of action. However, that does not address the problem of burnout on its own. So what should I do now?

We need to conduct a self assessment and be honest with ourselves even before discussing the best model for our own “new normal.” Working just for a paycheck means that everything that could potentially disrupt us will do so in a greater way. Much more easily and quickly, burnout sets in. Each of us needs to assess our professional activities and provide answers to the following questions: “Do I desire this? Can I play a positive part in this role and in my organization? Does it advance my professional and personal development? What other options do I have?”

If you can answer these questions truthfully and act upon the results of your enquiry, you’ll be solving two thirds of the problem.

Whether you are suitable for remote work or not, you must define your career path in terms of what will support you in terms of your physical, psychological, emotional, cognitive, behavioural, social, and existential well-being. You won’t be successful unless you take that action, which occasionally involves making challenging choices, both at home and at the office.

After all, just ask yourself: “How’s the pandemic going for me?”

Article first posted in Medium.