The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted businesses in every sector of the economy and has infected nearly 36 million people so far with over 1 million deaths globally. The coronavirus that surfaced in December 2019 has had negative effects on businesses across the world, and the economy as a whole.
The stay-at-home, lockdown, and wearing a mask have been mandatory in several countries which have caused our work lives to be affected in so many ways. Change in work procedures and having to rely on video conferencing apps for online classes have affected our daily lives.
Such an extreme change in our current work-life in this short time has left many of us wondering whether it will have any lasting effects on our work-lives once the pandemic is over and the current lockdown measures are eased.
How will our new work lives continue from here?
The pandemic will bring many changes to our work lives. Some of them are:
Higher Prioritization of workers’ health
The attention to employee well-being by organizations and employees themselves will surely increase. We will surely see employee health, wellness, and well-being being of greater importance in a post-pandemic situation.
We can expect sicker day allowances and health facilities like the full health check-ups and examination of employees before they enter their workplaces.
For a short period, after the workplace is reopened, signs may be placed in every room to remind everyone to wash hands, use masks and perhaps limit how they greet each other and to maintain personal space.
To avoid overcrowding, mobile apps and sensors will monitor your whereabouts throughout the day and alert you whenever you are close to another individual.
In the long run, contact-tracing apps for co-workers may also become part of the work-life experience to prevent the spread of future diseases. Offices securities many also include body temperature scanners before access to the office building.
Remote work
Office collaboration is important for building personal bonds and relationships between coworkers and boosting employee productivity. It is also essential for the creation of company culture, the safety of an organization’s employees is important than any of the rest.
The importance of remote working at a time like this has shown many organizations the advantage of remote working as a means of sustaining their businesses and to keep them up and running.
In a post-pandemic situation, we likely see the retention of remote working as a means of working for non-essential workers by organizations. However, office and in-house collaboration are surely not going away and higher-ranking workers may still work in-house.
Restructuring of office spaces
The basic design of office workspaces will surely be altered. There will be more personal space, elevator capacity limits, and demarcating spots to stand in elevators to limit physical contact.
We will see more space between desks and coworkers, fewer chairs in conference rooms, private cubicles or offices, partitions may be installed to reduce the risk of spreading diseases. The overall design of the office space might evolve in a post-pandemic situation.
Business travel and conferencing
The coronavirus pandemic will have a lasting effect on physical meetings as a whole. We should expect fewer conferences and restricted travel plans in the post-pandemic era. Essential meetings will still go on, but ones with lesser importance will shift to emails, phone calls, and video conferences.
We should expect physical meetings only when a project is crucial and cannot be done via video conferencing. Conferences and meetings will be adjourned for the foreseeable future and meetings that are not necessary would now be done through video conferencing.
Work shifts and office hours
Organizations will have gradual returns of essential employees and might not require most people to come back until there is widespread testing or until a vaccine is produced. Work shifts might be put in place to ensure there’s a limited amount of employees in the workplace at any given time.
Offices will limit the number of people to reduce the risk of contamination. Only essential workers will be allowed to come to the office, which might be the norm in a post-pandemic situation.
In Conclusion
How business fundamentals around the world are going to change due to the current global pandemic is unknown but by making educated guesses we might know how the impacts of the pandemic might shape our work life.
Workplaces may see significant changes in the long run, these may include new seating arrangements and reconstruction of office spaces that eliminate any risk of infection. To reduce the risk of spreading future diseases, it’s a great time to adopt new technology and innovation. Measures will surely be put in place to reduce the spread of any future diseases and pandemics to guarantee the general public and employee safety.
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