The Future of Work in the COVID-19 Economy
When the pandemic hit us earlier this year, did you ever think we’d continue working remotely for so long? I sure didn’t! Six months down and we are still here — working from home, as the uninvited Corona-bug has stayed much longer than we would have hoped for!
When the health crisis started to rapidly devolve around the February/March time-frame, most organizations across the globe were forced to adapt to a completely remote working infrastructure within a matter of days. In the years to come, Coronavirus will likely be hallmarked as the major remote-working disruption that catalyzed several shifts under the realm of workforce of the future (WoF), a research area which was already vigorously floating around in the organizational behavior and change universe. WoF is a niche area that provides a holistic view, enabling organizations to transition to a technologically-savvy workforce, as automation and the digital revolution continue to rise. This specialty also focuses on the key skills that will be critical for employees to thrive in a digital workplace.
Necessity is the mother of invention. In this case, we definitely had no choice but to undoubtedly and quickly acclimate to a new (virtual) working culture. We were suddenly thrown into crisis mode when the stay-at-home orders or national lock-downs began. Had we not adjusted to this new normal, would we have survived?
So.. What is actually happening as part of this COVID-economy and how are we responding?
Employees have shown tremendous agility in adjusting to working from home and multitasking with homeschooling, caring for the elderly, watching pets, and managing home chores — all while trying to remain sane. Many of us had a learning curve as we got used to new digital technologies that replaced our face-to-face work interactions and work processes. We started using breakout rooms during virtual meetings, google jamboards to facilitate whiteboard exercises during team collaborations, and leveraging Webex or webcasts for mass digital events. That took us a little bit of learning by doing but we figured it out, right?! Camera fatigue is now a genuine term! Thank God for no camera Fridays (at least in my organization) that we can do at least one day a week without worrying about turning on our videos. (God bless our HR leaders for that)!
The well-being factor has become more important than ever before. In fact, not just for employees but for their entire family units. Employers haven’t shied away from doubling up on healthcare options, including mental and emotional wellness. Most companies have loosened up their vacation and sick-time policies to accommodate staff coping from COVID-19 or caring for others within the household that tested positive for it. It is heartening to see many organizations offer mental-health days (earmarked time to give staff time and space for stress relief or coping from burnout). Management is providing additional support to cover childcare/eldercare support options, (including costs) and offering greater flexibility to enable people to figure out suitable working arrangements for them, outside of the traditional 9:00–5:00 hours. Many are allowing staff to use protected time to prioritize homeschooling kids, as needed. Businesses are leveraging greater technology, tools, and ideas to empower staff to stop the grind (for example, by blocking personal-time on calendars, reassessing the need for meetings when they may be easily replaced by email/chat options, shortening meeting duration to free up time, disabling email notifications during weekends or time-off). Leaders have supplemented financial health to existing benefits at no cost for staff. There are new and abundant community welfare options for employees to engage in philanthropic activities giving them an added purpose as they combat the emotional effects of navigating a world crisis.
What skills have you appreciated through the last few months of working virtually? For me, this crisis has erupted a quintessential opportunity to use innovation in how we work differently. We were able to burst some bubbles around work-life boundaries as we worked from anywhere, sometimes with kids sitting next to us as we converted our kitchen tables to our workstations. Sometimes, family members (especially kids and pets) made special appearances during video meetings. Sometimes, we took work calls while working out, taking a walk, cooking, doing dishes, or laundry. The beauty under all of these creative work processes was that there was no judgment around it. Everyone empathized with each other as we were all struggling to juggle between various work and life priorities. In the US, where hard-work, competitiveness, and a strong work ethic are highly priced and valued, this element of humanizing ourselves has felt so precious. From my lens, these are significant leaps in enhancing our workplace experience that we’ve made during the remote-work disruption.
What are your COVID-19 musings? For me, if our workforce has learned anything during this crisis, it is definitely the personal skills around compassion, empathy, and caring for our coworkers all of which have enabled us to thrive. We’ve acquired good communication skills to stay connected with our teams and manage expectations accordingly. We’ve shown tremendous nimbleness in adapting to unforeseen situations and still delivering well. We’ve shown curiosity in questioning typical work solutions or scenarios and offering alternate (novel) ideas whether by making radical policy changes or using flexibility in prioritizing our people and their health and safety. All of these shifts qualify for a phenomenal people experience and is part of their long-term employee value proposition. Employers must continue to retain these changes and not reverse to old practices, as those who’ve made such transitions have clearly built a new dimension to their cultural values. A culture where people can feel a greater sense of belonging and inclusiveness with their employer.
As we speak of employee experience, another critical and recurring question that keeps popping back in my mind is whether we will ever really need to return to offices? Of course, there are things for which employees will want to go back. There are team projects, critical processes, and things that can effectively happen only from offices. That said, considering we’ve been able to work remotely for the last several months with minimal to low impact to work outcomes, do all of us ever need to return to offices together? Could we use some non-traditional methods in solving this problem?
For most return to office planning purposes, strict adherence to risk management and health and safety are the major considerations. To start with, only a small percentage of the total workforce is being planned for a return to offices. How about we use that phased approach as a universal rule and rethink if everyone even needs to go to offices, if they don’t need to? Other than critical workers/teams that truly need to work from offices, could other teams take turns to go to office perhaps a few days in the week vs. everyday? Imagine the amount of real-estate savings by letting go off the entire office spaces that aren’t even being completely used. Imagine the savings on overheads that come with managing a big office space. Could all those cost savings be used elsewhere? Perhaps use that for a better employee experience, learning, recreation.. to think of just some alternate options. Not to mention how much carbon footprint we could reduce by avoiding our daily office commutes.
What happens to the gig-workforce? While gig-workers may have had an initial setback with the vacillating economic downturns at the beginning of the crisis, perhaps this is a good opportunity for gig-workers and contractual workers to boom. Instead of lay-offs, companies could potentially save costs by converting full-time employees into contractors/gig-workers based on their specific time-bound needs. Or those who have been laid off, could they be leveraged for gigs vs. hiring as full-time employees?
In summary, I think if employers can continue to prioritize people’s safety and well-being, redefine new ways of working, and continue refining their work-processes, the post-COVID era may bring a major makeover to workplace trends.
We need to keep checking with our people on what’s working and what’s not, so that this remote-working disruption may be optimized to co-create productive, progressive, and lasting organizational changes. If we’re able to do this right, (among other things that COVID-19 will be remembered), it may possibly alter our heinous perception of COVID-19 today.. allowing it to be remembered forever as the vanguard of workplace transformation. Amen to that!
