Protocols and guidelines for physical distance, remote work, less mobility for travel, meetings and events, impact on reputation and employer brand, higher incidence of freelance work and work by objectives will be some of the main emerging that we will see in the world of work post Covid-19.
In a context where preventive and compulsory isolation is extended, where many companies are unable to operate or had to radically modify their operating guidelines, with many workers confined to their homes and having to reconcile their professional and work life in the same space , and many others over-demanded for providing services in activities considered essential, it is indisputable that the world of work will no longer be the same and everything indicates that some changes are here to stay.
In just a couple of days we changed our way of working, we left our offices and we had to adapt to new ways of carrying out our tasks. Overnight we put together the world’s largest home office experiment that not even the most visionary mind could never imagine, and that has no turning back, many things will not be as before in the world of work when the quarantine is over and we return to a certain, and new, normality.
Here at Applied Innovation you can count on our professionals’ expertise to adapt to these new trends and ensure your business will survive and keep thriving after the pandemic.
These are the main trends that, according to the experts, will lay the foundations for a new world labor scenario when the pandemic passes:
- Distance guidelines in offices, plants and work areas
Even when the quarantine is lifted and productive activity resumes, we will have to continue living with the physical distancing protocols that will substantially affect the way we link in the different work environments. Companies should strive to create safe work environments for workers, adapting their facilities, processes and work standards in line with the new distance parameters.
Thus, dividing screens, safety zones and monitored circulation, sanitation stations, kits for personal protection elements and strict occupation protocols in common spaces will be protagonists of the new normality at work.
- Home Office and remote work
The situation of preventive isolation forced many organizations to create the conditions for their collaborators to carry out home offices, even when the prevailing culture was oriented towards face-to-face work, control and compliance with schedules. The positive of this forced situation is that it collaborated to break down cultural barriers, prejudices and myths regarding remote work and productivity, self-management and the commitment of employees.
It is highly likely that after having gone through this experience, many companies do not want to have all their workers in their offices in front of the desk as before, and there will even be many workers who had a positive experience during the pandemic who do not want to either.
- Displacements, trips, events and meetings
The pandemic paralysed the world of travel and tourism and is expected to be one of the industries that takes the longest to recover. This situation, transferred to the world of work, will directly impact the organisation of conventions, conferences, trainings and other corporate events that will cease to be face-to-face and will go into virtual environments.
The same will happen with the typical formats of daily meetings in organisations, which will change to videoconferences to sustain the physical distance that will be the norm from now on.
On the other hand, companies must creatively and flexibly adapt working time schemes to avoid the transfer of workers in public transport during peak hours, as well as implement alternative days of attendance and other strategies that allow compliance with the safety gap between people in the different workspaces.
- Work by objectives is consolidated
As a secondary effect, teleworking, which was massively introduced by health circumstances, has made many companies realize that they do not need to rely on time control to ensure the productivity of their workforce, making work gain ground by objectives.
Many organisations with management cultures that distrusted flexible work formats, that prioritised “being” over “doing”, have been able to live the empirical experience and verify that presenteeism is not a guarantee of results. Confidence in remote performance and sustained productivity during isolation from the pandemic have shown that part-time work is becoming obsolete and goal-based work is gaining ground.
- Reputation and employer brand are put to the test
Although companies around the world face a context of high uncertainty and countless challenges at the same time, and talking about employer branding may sound superfluous or out of timing, just the opposite happens: this is exactly the time when Organizations must be careful to respect, protect, and even elevate their reputations, as their performance in these uncertain times will be judged not by their results, but by how they treated people.
Staying true to your identity and values should be the guiding principle especially if the company is faced with the difficult task of making layoffs. Today is the time to put empathy, social conscience and values-based management in the foreground, so that they are the guide to navigate this crisis with transparency and sensitivity, based on open, sincere and humane communication with its collaborators.
- Freelance work and other flexible work format options grow
With less dependence on presentiality, greater possibilities for remote work and the consolidation of management by objectives, the post-Covid-19 world of work will offer greater possibilities for more flexible formats and work experiences and the inclusion of freelancers as part of the organisations talent pool.
With technology as a facilitator, we will see new growth in the “Gig Economy,” as the new mobile, remote, on-demand and independent work economy is called. In this sense, given that specialization and knowledge do not recognise hiring formats, the incorporation of talents in a freelance format, by project or part-time will grow hand in hand with a context in which organizations will need more than ever to be competitive in order to recover from the economic impact that the pandemic will leave.
The global pandemic unleashed by the coronavirus is driving new challenges, creating a scenario of greater uncertainty and unpredictability. All the paradigms with which we have been working, both companies and workers, have broken into a thousand pieces and we had to improvise and adapt on the fly to continue working despite of the virus that turned the world upside down.
Bear in mind that here at Applied Innovation we have a team of professionals with a unique combination of leadership and experience to prepare your people to adapt to change no matter how radical it is.