It’s more work, less play this end of year

“There is no reason to wait. Cancel your holiday travel plans now”, screamed the headline of a recent column in the Washington Post.

No awards for guessing why the author was imploring people to find alternative (and intuitively less fun) ways to wind up the year. Rising cases, increased hospitalisation, shortage of healthcare workers and infrastructure – the plotline for the 2020 narrative has been one dreary, tragic non-thriller.

Personally, Christmas and New Year season has always been a time for travel – as I’m sure must be the case for many of you. Taking a trip to the hills, a weekend-getaway to the beach or even just visiting my family back in the north-east – the line-up has been pretty similar each year for the last decade, up until now that is. While some of my loved ones are down with the infection, most of us are consciously avoiding long-distance travel.

As cases continue to ride high and still no vaccine in sight, it’s no surprise that a vacation is not on the agenda for many this season. A recent survey by goibibo revealed that less than one in three Indians are looking to end the year travelling with friends and colleagues. And despite the green offshoots visible in some sectors, people are staying cautious when it comes to loosening their purse strings.

LinkedIn’s latest edition of the Workforce Confidence Index finds that only 14% of professionals in India plan to spend more time travelling this end-of-year compared to 2019, with less than 10% hoping to indulge more in shopping or attending social events. The index – based on a survey of 1,000+ members in India – gauges sentiments of people on job security, financial and career outlook.

In fact, over 60% of the respondents said they will be taking less time off, with a significant share (37%) spending more hours checking in on work even during their off-hours.

Are you spending more hours at work this season? HR expert Abhijit Bhaduri shares some tips to maintain a work-life balance:

· Most people have figured out when to start the day while working from anywhere. Finding a definitive time to end the day is rare. Building that is a vital first step.

· Finding time to sleep for 7-8 hours is necessary to feel refreshed. Exercise may be the missing element at work.

· Finding ways to connect with colleagues and friends for unstructured chats is a great way to feel connected. It limits our feelings of isolation. Unplanned and unstructured social connections are mood uplifters. Try them.

 How do you plan to spend your time this year-end? Vote in this poll here: https://lnkd.in/gMCXkY8

The Road Ahead

We may be far from a pre-Covid normal, but organisations are anticipating 2021 to be a year of rebound, opportunities, hope and positivity. Amid the reports of gloom-and-doom, talent onboarding is losing geographical boundaries, companies coming to prestigious institutions are narrowing the global pay gap and many employers are rolling back the pay cuts they affected earlier this year. Little surprise then that this optimism is also reflecting among the workforce.

Around two in five professionals believe the number of job openings will increase in the near future, the survey reveals. Nearly one-third, meanwhile, anticipate their earnings and personal expenses to increase in the next six months – a sharp uptick from a share of less than one in four earlier this year when the pandemic first struck India. Bhaduri says demand for cutting-edge tech skills, video-based storytelling, machine learning, blockchain, cybersecurity and Natural Language Processing will remain hot and sector agnostic in the year ahead.

Employees in manufacturing, construction and consumer goods are seen to be most optimistic, even as those in media and communications rank lower than the rest.

 How are you spending your time this year-end? How do you think the job market will shape up in 2021? Share your views in the comments.