Opportunities for the New Normal After COVID-19
Most of us have some form of challenges in the way we work because of COVID-19. These opportunities might not fit in all the category of work, however, whilst time is tough I believe the way we work is due to a renewal and update.
Remote Work
For people who’s fortunate enough to work remotely during the pandemic, we have an opportunity to experiment with a different approach to the way we collaborate. It gives a lot of companies a chance to reevaluate the actual benefit of being in the office physically if you don’t have to. Companies allow remote working permanently including Twitter, Square, and Facebook. With a disclaimer, they might have to take a pay cut if they move to low-cost locations outside San Francisco.
4 Days work week
For the companies who have to reduce hours for saving cost, there might not be a need to return to the old normal. If they can generate similar revenue during a 32-hour workweek, I don’t see the problem of ditch 40-hour workweek completely. At least, this is probably the only time a company will be brave enough to do this because they have to.
Develop new skills
During this time, because of the normal jobs have been challenged. Some workers who are in furlough have developed a new set of skills because all of a sudden they have all this extra time in their hand.
Side hustles
Because having a job is not a guarantee anymore, we get to look at other alternatives. Especially for a new graduate who struggles to find a permanent role. There might be better opportunities out there for them to work as freelancer or hustle for money.
Booming in some sectors
There are some industries are benefitted because of a lot of us having to stay at home and work remotely. Such as supermarket, online shopping, and virtual collaboration tool like Zoom. And last but not least streaming-entertainment company Netflix.
Online content uptake
Because people spend more time at home, there is a lot more content created than usual, including virtual conferences. Which means these contents can be accessed from anywhere and possibly at the lower cost if not free.
Sadly, there are job losses and a lot of people been financially impacted or lose their love ones. My heart goes out to whoever has been impacting due to this crisis. I hope when we do come out of the new normal, we can take these opportunities to make positive changes for the future. 🙏
Reference
Here Are The Companies Leading The Work-From-Home Revolution. Jack Kelly, 24th May 2020.
Four-day working week: Coronavirus pandemic is the ‘perfect excuse’ to make switch, says campaigner. Natalie Huet at Euro News, 29th May 2020.
Remote Sprints. Ross Chapman at SofaConf, 26th June 2020.
