Office & Work Life After COVID-19 — Here’s everything that’s changed
COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we used to look at things around us. From being a species that longed for human touch and personal interaction, we have been forced to think of social distancing and isolation as the new normal.
Things are a lot more different if we look from the perspective of teams and offices. As quite rightly put in words by Brent Capron — “Workstations were about privacy and acoustics — now they represent a physical separation between colleagues.”
As we take tiny steps towards going back to how life used to be before the pandemic, we are bound to see some changes. Office spaces are not going to be the same. Life is not going to be the same.
We are going to talk about the change in this post. But before we move to that let us first have a look at the good, the bad and everything in-between that has been brought forward by this COVID-19 pandemic.
The Good Things
1. Change Of Century-old Working Practices
As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. The lockdown has proven in more than just one way that remote work and flexible working hours are the way forward for businesses.
Businesses that were not willing to switch to remote work as they thought it is against traditional practices and will not prove useful have accepted it with arms wide open now. In fact, it won’t be wrong to say that this forced switch to remote work has been a great thing for them, since they have managed to achieve great performance from employees who are working from their comfort zones.
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2. Focus On Physical And Mental Health
Whether you agree with it or not, the constant pressure to always exceed the performance expectations had started turning every workforce into machines, with little to no focus on physical as well as mental health.
Therefore, the second good thing that this lockdown has brought forward has to be the awareness in people about their health. As people got more free time that was earlier wasted in commuting, they have started to focus on building a sound mind and a sound body.
3. Boost In Relationships And Happiness
As a result of people spending more time at home, there has been a sharp increase in their happiness index. This has indeed been one of the most important changes that has happened in the lives of people.
Commute, extended working hours, conference calls, time zone differences and a lot more — all these work-related activities had become a necessary evil that took its toll on relationships. However, this forced lockdown has, in a way, helped relationships blossom and increase happiness amongst people (though the fear of pandemic is still there).
4. A Sharp Increase In Productivity
Most importantly, especially talking from the perspective of businesses, this lockdown has brought a sharp increase in the productivity of teams that have been working from home; contrary to what many believed.
In fact, businesses have seen a surge in the productivity of their employees after making a switch to remote work. In a way, this can be seen as a blessing in disguise for businesses as well as the workers.
For instance, during this lockdown and shift to remote work our marketing team here at ProofHub has exceeded their goals for almost every week.
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5. Tech Adoption
Last, but not the least good thing that the pandemic has managed to bring for offices is the transition from obsolete to latest technology. Businesses that were unsure about virtual collaboration tools as a means to reduce workload, and streamline communication channels have now accepted them quite openly.
This tech adoption has led the wave of change that is going to make businesses more flexible, efficient and future-proof. And, that’s the way ahead for everyone!!!
The Bad Things
1. Blurred Lines Between Personal And Professional Life
While we have all enjoyed the added flexibility of working from home, the one that most of us have dreaded is the blurred lines between personal and professional life. The time that many were saving on commuting and other time-wasting activities was being put by many back to their office work.
The biggest reason behind this, what I personally believe, is because of unclear guidelines and expectations of businesses. In fact, many businesses have faced the problem of employee burnouts during this period, which was an alarming trend.
Though this situation can be easily controlled by setting up work from home ethics and adhering to them strictly, it is important for businesses to realize this in order for it to work.
2. Data Security Becoming A More Serious Threat
In offices, you have a secure network with state-of-the-art security practices implemented. However, there is no such thing as data privacy while working from home.
With employees working from their personal networks, the security of data has emerged as one of the biggest challenges for businesses. After all, data is the biggest asset for them.
3. Unexpected Challenges
Besides all these expected challenges, the shift to social distancing at the workplace and other attributes brought about by pandemic has given rise to a number of unforeseen challenges. These involve technology challenges associated with working from home.
Not everyone has the same access to technology, and hence making that available is one such challenge. Communication breakdown, time zone difference and many more — the list of challenges is quite long.
4. Constant Fear And Panic
The biggest negative impact of the lockdown has been on the mental aptitude of employees. There will always be a constant fear in their mind about the outbreak. Since the pandemic outbreak is associated with touch and proximity between individuals, which is pretty hard to completely avoid, the state of mind is never going to be the same.
It is going to take a lot of time for employees to come to terms with the changes that are going to happen as a result of the pandemic. And, they cannot do it unless the organization they are working for supports them in the endeavor.
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Everything In-between
While all this continues to happen, there are a few things that have made their way in our lives in-between:
1. A Cultural Shift
Work cultures have changed. Everything has become virtual, and things are going to remain like this even when we switch to working from an office premise in the future.
Focus will be on maintaining social distancing, flexibility in work schedules and the end results, instead of the number of working hours being spent at work. We are going to see a revamp of work cultures, with virtual collaboration and online communication taking prominent roles, instead of in-person and team gathering for discussions and meetings.
From the physical structure of offices and work desks to technology — there’s going to be a shift for good, in everything!
2. Access To Global Talent Pool
What this transformation to virtual working has also done is that made the hiring process more open. Businesses are now looking beyond physical boundaries to hire the best talent they can find for their job. This is good for both the employers, and the potential employees looking for the perfect opportunity.
No matter where in the world you are located, if you have the skills and the knowledge, businesses are out there looking for you without putting up the condition for you to relocate.
3. Hiring Attributes Will Change
Amidst all this, the one thing that is surely going to make its way will be the hiring attributes. Since remote workers are going to be the most sought after professionals, organizations will have to rethink their hiring processes to suit their remote hiring needs.
Moreover, businesses have started to think of the changes they need to bring to their onboarding processes for better adaptability and inculcation of work culture. As employees will no longer be present in the same premise, using virtual team building practices to support and build office culture has emerged as the need of the hour.
4. Emphasis On Chat Literacy
And the biggest factor that will play a role in the above-mentioned point will be to chat literacy. For instance, Ok., Ok, and Ok… all have different meanings, but ensuring that remote workers understand the difference between the three is what’s going to lay the framework for successful collaboration.
In a similar way, since non-verbal cues while communicating have been totally taken out of the equation, the need to increase chat literacy within employees has popped up immensely.
Work From Home Is Here To Stay
Since social distancing is not going anywhere in the near future, it is quite certain that we are going to observe offices working with reduced staff and allowing their teams to work from home as long as possible.
Tech giants like Google, Facebook and Twitter have already set the examples, and it is likely that other big and small companies are likely to follow.
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Changes In Working Hours
In Britain, the government is thinking to adopt different working hours for offices to avoid crowds during the commute in local transport. There are many organizations in NYC and other parts all over the world that are planning to adopt a similar approach.
It might not be a surprise to see a change in the office timings, from the usual 10 to 7 or 9 to 6 that has become a norm in all industries.
Decline In Popularity Of Co-working Spaces
Shared workspaces have become synonymous with the startup culture that brings with it a more casual and chic approach. Not just this, Co-working spaces had become the preferred choice for small businesses and distributed teams. However, this trend is going to certainly change post COVID-19.
In fact, people working from home in a literal sense might replace the co-working spaces. And, we are going to see people choosing to work from their own living spaces, instead of going out where there is no control over who comes from where.
Return Of Old-school Cubicles
Even in office premises, where open work spaces had become a popular reflection of culture, we might see the old-school cubicles making a comeback. Not only do these cubicles serve as a physical barrier for maintaining social distance, they also provide a greater deal of privacy.
So, don’t be surprised to see clear markings for maintaining distance and cubicles instead of open desks when you return to the office post the lockdown.
More Awareness About Hygiene
Cleaning and sanitizing is obviously going to become a much more important aspect of working spaces. Business will have to invest a lot more manpower and resources on maintaining cleanliness, and sanitization practices especially for places such as conference rooms.
In fact, it can be a possibility that we might see an end of in-person meetings for a while, since there are advanced tools available for video-conferencing. After all, there’s no point maintaining all the other social distancing practices when you end up getting them all together in one room.
Conclusion
As we all can see, things are no longer going to be the way they were before the COVID-19 pandemic had struck mankind. Just like old times, things will move back with a new definition of normal in both office and work life. Soon, we will adapt to it to again emerge as a thriving force that is going to live and flourish on this planet. Here’s hoping that the day comes pretty soon!
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