Anchors were lifted, sails were released from masts and they caught the wind. The faux pas was, we hoped our captain was at the wheel to steer the ship, but that’s another story. The bells rang, the horns blared, and the sojourn began.
On the 27th of February 2020 BC (Before COVID), Nigeria left the safety of the harbour and joined other nations in the uncharted, uncertain waters of COVID-19.
We did not envisage the magnitude of the impact this odyssey would have. One thing is certain though, post-COVID, things would never remain the same!
All aspect of life as we knew it has changed with the “birth” of this virus. Social, political, and economic normalcy has been distorted. Along with it, business operations and how work is done, has seen an “evolution”.
As a nation, we are “blessed” with some of the best employers. They “love” their employees, so much, they take delight in seeing the faces and smiles of employees, every day. The very romantic ones would even want you coming over on weekends. Even for tasks that could be achieved remotely, working has been enforced to be in-situ the office.
The romance died, though, as COVID (amazing how COVID and CUPID are almost look-alikes) strong-armed businesses to adopt a remote working approach, something that seemed impossible some months ago.
For young, innovative businesses, this switch was easier to cope with, but you see those larger, “structured” organizations, let’s just say it’s been more of a knockdown than a lockdown for them
It has been a difficult transition for these organizations, majorly because they’ve structured their deliverable and services to be rendered from one place; the office.
For institutions like banks and essential commodities producers (water plants, bakeries etc.), the logic of having a designated location is very sensible (except you want to start depositing money with me) but for businesses that don't necessarily need to work from the office
To survive the post-COVID world, businesses would need to be creative, flexible and highly innovative. Sadly, might be an end to the bad romance between employers and employees, especially employees who are more productive this period.
The truth is (open to argument), people tend to perform better when they are in their zone, and most time, their zone may be on their beds, in their rooms.
An average of 2 out of 3 creatives would prefer working from home at least twice a week. The 3rd person probably has a crush at the office and won’t mind coming to the office, even on weekends, just to see his/her face.
Many global business execs worldwide believe that remote working is here, especially after the pandemic eases. Ben Huffman, CEO of Contra said, “there is a fundamental shift to project-based employment, tricky at first, but long term will lead to a renaissance in how we work and enable all of us to achieve greater work-life balance. COVID-19 is an accelerant to a trend that has been long overdue.
"Max Friberg, Cofounder of Inex One in Sweden thinks "the COVID crisis sparks an overall shift towards efficient online platforms." He also thinks "this behavioural change will stick, even after the crisis ebbs.”
Post-COVID, there would be a spike in remote working or the necessity of an option to request for it. Any foresighted organisation would use this period to sample the possibilities of streamlining its working structure to allow for this old, but “new” working option; most especially businesses that employ creatives, designers or programmers.
Speaking further on the future of work, Paul Estes, Editor in Chief of Staffing.com had this to say; “An estimated 58% of knowledge workers now work remote. The feeling that work couldn’t be done remotely is largely debunked. The challenge now: many companies invested in large and expensive physical campuses and are incented to drive utilization over the benefits of more progressive remote work programs. We will see a shift in how talent wants to engage. Companies that focus on outcomes and flexibility will attract the best and the brightest.”
The future of remote working certainly looks bright, as attested to by Emma El Karout, CEO of One Circle in the Mideast and Africa. She believes that “remote work will be tough to roll back once we beat this pandemic. Companies that resisted remote work are seeing real evidence that it works."
Guess it's not all doom and gloom after all. The virus may have wreaked global havoc and sadly took some lives, but it had a positive impact on the future of how work would be done. It brought death to the bad romance some employers have for employees.
I know I certainly prefer working from home but the way food and provision are being consumed, I think working away from home once in a while is a good option.
Let’s meet for coffee or go for a stroll.