Are We Halfway Through COVID?

Full transparency - I don't actually know if we are really halfway through the COVID crisis. No one does. That said, with the speed of some of the vaccines that are in testing, I think it is safe to assume we are at least close to halfway through COVID.

I'm a glass half full type of guy. In my line of work, it is easy to allow negativity to pull you away from what is most important. Pandemic aside, we get to help companies find great talent and get to help great talent navigate the job market. If you can't get fired up about that, you may want to get checked out by a medical professional. That said, this year has been different...

As you can imagine, the recruiting /staffing / head hunting / executive placement world, has been a roller coaster since March. (NOTE: I've never heard the roller coaster analogy more accurately describe a period of time). We had a big drop at the beginning followed by smaller peaks and valleys of activity. As soon as companies started returning to the workplace, we started seeing instances of COVID affecting employees and our clients. Workplace strategies had to change on the fly and have been varied. Liability for employees weighed heavy on business decisions. Company leadership, on the whole, made their best guess of the right strategy for both their business but more importantly their people.

In the past 5 months, we have learned a few things that are, at this point, fairly universally agreed upon:

• Remote work is doable for many professions. Obviously, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Distribution, etc still need to be in the workplace however, technology has allowed many of us to continue to be productive while out of the office.
• Zoom Happy Hours seem to be over at this point... thank goodness...
• Surface transfer of COVID is not as bad as we thought.
• Masks work well but few remember that your mask protects others but it does little to protect you. If everyone doesn't wear a mask, the system doesn't work.
• We are all social people at some level and being secluded from other people is not easy.
• Work From Home (WFH) for parents with small children is nearly impossible and sometimes hysterical.

So what's next? Glass half full people are celebrating that we are half way done. The glass half empty folks are upset that we likely have another 5-6 months of life with COVID. Google just announced they are not having employees back into the office until July of 2021. Many companies are changing business process and workplace strategy forever. One thing that seems patently clear is we will continue this choppy, frustrating, uncertain time until we have a vaccine. Schools reopening in a few weeks have the potential to send shock waves through our communities and businesses. We are seeing an almost universal moratorium on hiring until after school start up for professional type positions.

I'll close with a few things that have helped me stay mentally positive over these last 5 months:

• The roaring 20's followed the pandemic of 1917.
• Our economy still is showing it has potential (mathematical definition of potential).
• Major business sectors are still holding strong (some with help from the government).
• I've been able to spend a lot more time with my family.
• Society has been able to take a breath and slow down for the past 5 months but we are all ready to get moving again!

Thanks for reading,

Dan

Have additional ideas or best practices? I'd love to hear about it! You can reach me at 513.448.5592 or [email protected]

Aquarius is a Cincinnati Home Grown staffing partner to some of the largest companies in the region. Founded in 2006, Aquarius has active pipelines in IT, Accounting, Operations, Finance, Marketing, Engineering, Clerical, Human Resources, Transportation, Administrative, Customer Service, and Beyond. Being client driven, Aquarius prides itself on its flexibility to consistently deliver value to its clients. We feel it's our ability to deliver value that makes us a partner not just a vendor. Aquarius has the bandwidth to support Direct Hire, Contract-To-Hire, Non Time Defined Contract or Special Projects.