The “New” Working World
The “New” Working World
Since the coronavirus pandemic struck the world, the working world will never be the same. Hundreds of millions of people have lost jobs throughout the months, whereas many have shifted to the working from home model. The pandemic has created a new world of working where both employers and employees have changed their working models to ensure effectiveness while adhering to the measures to curb the spread of the virus. Here are some insights into the new working world triggered by the pandemic.
Remote working
In the pre coronavirus pandemic era, the number of people working from home was less than the number of people working from home since the WHO declared Covid-19 a pandemic. Employees whose jobs are compatible with remote work attained the flexibility of working from home, which has not changed ever since. This working from home model has increased employee satisfaction since they can choose when and how to get the work done. Remote working has also increased awareness among employers that they can save on operational costs and at the same time achieve efficiency if the appropriate measures are put in place as their employees work from home.
Increased creativity
Dr. Jordan Sudberg; pain management specialist, comments that the new working world’s model has triggered increased creativity and innovation. New technologies have emerged to accommodate the new working from home model. Managers had to develop creative ways of remotely managing the employees to ensure that the hybrid way of working does not sabotage efficiency and productivity. Innovations have enabled people to get the job done from anywhere in the world and hold virtual meetings and communications effectively.
Increased skill learning
The new working world has seen less commuting and empty office spaces. The remote working model left out people who used to do jobs such as cleaning and maintenance. The new model affected people whose jobs depended on traffic flow into urban areas. Such people have been forced to learn new skills compatible with the new world of work. Increased skill development has been witnessed among employees whose jobs had to shift to remote working using new technologies and software.
Less social interaction
The pandemic prompted people to reduce social interactions, which has been one of the methods of curbing the spread of the virus. These measures changed the way people lived and interacted by introducing new modes of interacting, such as video calls. Dr. Jordan Sudberg says that this shift in social lifestyle has led to increased mental health issues as adults face loneliness and crave connections and physical interactions. In conjunction with less social interaction, financial difficulty and job losses have led to an upsurge of mental health issues among employees.
The pandemic’s effects on the working world so far will have a permanent impact. This impact will result from the new working models that have realized efficiency without having workers working in a physical space. The majority of the workers will not be willing to return to the traditional nine-to-five office model post the pandemic. People must learn new skills to be at par with the new working world.