The new "Abnormal"

‘The New Normal’. It’s been one of the most talked about and discussed topic for nearly a year now. But here’s the thing. The situation we find ourselves in today is anything but normal. And we should be very careful not to normalise it, but to acknowledge and recognize that it’s a real aberration, and a truly extraordinary time in our lives.

Before the pandemic,?the percentage of employees who worked from home was around 20%. Today, that number is as high as 70%. Does that make it the ‘new normal’? I strongly disagree.

By calling it the ‘new normal’, I fear that we are in danger of encouraging an insidious acceptance of a way of working that has already had serious repercussions. It has had a grave impact on people’s mental health. And it should not be allowed to continue.

The office has always been a space that allows people to draw a healthy boundary between their personal lives and their work lives. It’s a place where people can work together, interact, brainstorm and collaborate to develop new ideas, find new solutions and grow in their careers.

And this is exactly what this ‘new normal’ has taken from us. As human beings, we need social interaction to grow and develop. Zoom calls cannot and will not ever replace the invaluable benefit of in-person collaboration and communication.

?We’ve been hearing people complain about “Zoom Fatigue”. But the consequences are far more serious and long term than just fatigue from having one too many a video conference call. Working in isolation proves increasingly exhaustive and debilitating without the energy that we get from being around other people. We cannot replicate the intimacy of a chat at the watercooler or the office pantry with one that’s conducted online. It is these informal interactions that enable both creativity and comradery.

Our mental and physical health depend on establishing healthy boundaries between work and our personal lives. It’s called a work-life balance for a reason. But when our homes become a default office, these boundaries dissolve and become murky.

Is WFH devoid of all advantages? No. On the surface, it does have some benefits. Not having to waste precious time on long commutes theoretically give us more time to be productive. But can we truly be more productive while trying to appease a screaming toddler? Trying to be heard on a conference call over your spouse having his or hers at the same time? Or, while playing referee and breaking up a fight between your children? Working from home not only means a lack of suitable work space and privacy, it also costs us our productivity.

More than ever, employers can now take advantage of the ease with which they can get in touch with their employees. This in turn, adds to our mental burden of having to be switched on digitally at all times. You may have heard the term “work creep”. While this was a phenomenon that existed even before the pandemic thanks to smartphones, this ‘new normal’ will only make it worse.

Let’s take a look at our children today. They represent an entire generation that is slowly replacing real life with a virtual existence. Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook are transforming in-person socialisation to a digital one. Children today would rather text than call. What does this say? If we are aware that this isn’t healthy for them, why should it be good for us?

It’s true that I am a senior executive in the field of digital transformation. And it’s also true that digital technology has helped the world continue functioning even during a pandemic. But this doesn’t mean that we should sacrifice actual human interactions for digital ones. Digital transformations should enhance and improve our lives, not replace them with a virtual substitute.

There’s more to it than that. If we continue working from home, and Zoom calls become a standard replacement for actual face-to-face interactions, it can damage our social skills. In some cases, it can even make introverts actually start dreading in-person exchanges.

As a leader, I take my responsibility of mentoring and guiding my team seriously. I can honestly say that doing this digitally is not half as effective as a face-to-face session. I believe that a digital work landscape will come at a cost. It will prevent younger employees from enjoying opportunities to progress in their career as well as prove an obstacle to us all from developing a spirit of collaboration and cooperation.

Take business travel. A Zoom conference call makes it difficult if not impossible to read cultural nuances, and to take into account those cultural differences that can impact the outcome of the conversation. And of course, it can never replace the value of bonding with your overseas counterpart over a glass of wine and dinner.

So what is the answer? What kind of a future should companies and organizations plan for their employees? To put it simply, a hybrid one. Even tech giants like Facebook, Alphabet and Amazon are recognising the value of bringing their people back to work whether it’s for a few days a week, or more.

Today, we admittedly don’t have the perfect solution, or as I call it, the perfect recipe for a ‘new normal’. But I know that the solution needs two vital ingredients. The benefits of a digital system and the undeniable advantages of actual human interactions. We need to give our employees both flexibility and a structure that they can depend on. Because no matter what the industry, we cannot let the short term gratification of working in our pyjamas lead to the long term risk of mental isolation and burnout. We cannot sacrifice innovation and collaboration for convenience.?

This?article?is?the sole responsibility of?the author and does not necessarily represents the opinion of the company, entities or any affiliated parties.