What will change at Work after the Pandemic?
In March 2019, I wrote a LinkedIn article called ”How to work in an open plan office?” Well, how times have changed.
The Corona Virus pandemic popped up in China in December 2019. Many months later it is still impacting on the way China works. So, the rest of the world can expect that the pandemic will affect us for at least that length of time.
Apart from a new baby boom of a generation called coronavarians (or pandemicans), and maybe an increased divorce rate, what will change, especially in the way we work?
Working From Home (WFH)
This is the obvious one. Tens of millions of workers are working from home during lock downs and social distancing restrictions. After the pandemic, company bosses will realise that there are many benefits from having colleagues work from home, and this strategy will become commonplace. Here are some expected changes as WFH becomes more commonplace:
- Less office space will be needed with a consequent reduction in rents or business mortgages. In some cities there is talk of converting those unrented buildings to homes for the homeless;
- According to a recent Hilda survey, Sydney in Australia had the longest average daily work commutes in the country, clocking in at a whopping 71 minutes. So, workers in cities, in particular, will appreciate not having to do long commutes.
In August 2019, Business News Daily reported on an Airtasker survey which found that:
- Remote workers take longer breaks on average, but they remain productive for an additional 10 minutes per day.
- Remote employees work 1.4 more days per month than their office-based counterparts, resulting in more than three additional weeks of work per year.
Other WFH issues include:
- In early March 2020, NASA’s satellites showed that with the lock downs, pollution has significantly decreased in Chinese cities. Surely this is another reason for continuing to work from home.
- With remote workers the whole concept of teams has changed.
- Managers have to lead WFH teams via technology, and be more aware of subtle nuances in body language and written and verbal communications;
- Everyone will have learned new skills such as “video conferencing” which will improve their productivity.
Suburban Life
Life in the “burbs” has changed forever:
- “Home office space” and “Home Gym” will be key features of real estate advertising. People working from home will expect new housing to have these facilities.
- Parents, who have been forced into home schooling because of the pandemic, will have discovered what a joy it is to assist their children to learn. Let’s hope this doesn’t end when children return to traditional learning spaces.
- As more WFH people have time to use local parks, councils will improve local public facilities.
- During the pandemic, we are already seeing that Council meetings no longer need to be face to face. In the future, constituents will access local government via technology.
- We will have re-discovered what fun it is to cook and eat at home. For those who prefer restaurant meals, they will discover excellent eating venues closer to home.
- It takes a minimum of 28 days to break an addiction. As Clubs and Casinos will have closed for months at a time during lock downs, will we see a reduction in gambling? Or, will gamblers find alternative ways on technology to waste money? Hopefully it’s the former.
- Neighbourliness will be re-generated. Whether it’s singing from Roman balconies, or sharing toilet paper rolls (you wish), or leaving food at the doorstep for someone who is in isolation, our caring ethos will prevail.
- Everyone will have become so conscious of washing hands regularly, that this will be normal unconscious hygiene behaviour. Can we then expect a reduction in disease in the future?
Technology
If the pandemic has shown us anything, it is that we have technologies that can help us work distantly from fellow humans. Here are some of the ramifications of that change in the use of technology:
- Cash will disappear. We will have become so used to using "tap and pay" technology to avoid touching a machine. Customer service staff will continue to avoid handling dirty and unhygienic bank notes.
- Businesses, such as some cafes which work on a “cash only” basis, will not have been able to access full government assistance (because they won’t be able to prove their previous turnover and payment of tax). The norm will be that “cash only” means “no government assistance”, and everyone will be paid a fair wage.
- We will be so used to drones delivering our parcels that this will be the norm. Sorry Mr Postman, but you are human and therefore considered unhygienic. So, your job will disappear.
- Company learning will move more from face to face class room to technology based learning. For example, in a huge country like Australia, during the pandemic we are finding we can connect learners from Perth to Sydney with inexpensive teleconferencing, rather then flying learners from either side of the country. Board meetings are happening the same way.
- Land line telephones will disappear. Business calls will now be VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) or via teleconferencing and mobile phones. Seeing the person you are talking with on technology will become commonplace.
Fashion
- Because we have become so conscious of hygiene issues, gloves will come back in style!
- We (men) will wake up to the fact that neck ties are no longer a necessary fashion accessory. Apart from restricting our breathing during the pandemic, with global warming heating up the planet, neck ties are now outdated.
- The big question is “when will face masks become a fashion statement”?
Finally
Of course, there are many negatives to come out of the pandemic, not the least being deaths, mental health, and financial instability. They are for others to write about.
Do you have some positive comments about what working will be like after the pandemic? Please write them in the comments box below.