Fears surrounding job losses because of the impact of Covid-19 should never be underplayed, but is it possible that in the longer term, working life might change for the better?
The pandemic has made many of us question the way we spend our time and wonder whether our work-life balance is totally off-kilter.
With that in mind, let’s look at how Covid-19 will change work forever.
Mental health
Even if staff haven’t been directly affected by the current pandemic, there’s every chance that the isolation associated with lockdown and the extra pressures on family life and finances will either engender new mental health problems, or exacerbate existing issues for many workers.
So if companies want to retain skilled staff, they’ll have to pay more than lip service to workplace mental health – not only with initiatives like employee assistance counselling services, but also through retraining managers to lead with more emotional intelligence and offering much more flexible working hours and conditions.
Staff at all levels can benefit from professional guidance and an impartial listening ear, which is why workplace mental health services like Sanctus make it easy for workers to talk about mental health by providing employers with expert trained coaches who create safe spaces where everyone is free to talk.
Collaborative workspaces
Firms who have made the transition to remote working reasonably smoothly might wonder whether they want to continue shelling out to rent physical office spaces after Covid-19 subsides – they’ll want to stay lean and mean by streamlining spending and reducing unnecessary overheads until they consolidate their positions and forge ahead.
But if you still need a physical office to meet clients and staff might enjoy social and professional interaction with colleagues occasionally, perhaps a co-working space is a happy medium?
Once restrictions are lifted, spaces like those provided by entrepreneurial hub Arise Innovation will probably be in demand – particularly if they plug you into professional advice and assistance from the host organisation and enable networking with fellow SMEs who might be open to collaboration.
Freelance working
Unfortunately, many of the salaried roles currently furloughed on a full or part-time basis will probably be obsolete by the time the government’s assistance scheme ends in October, if they don’t disappear earlier.
But the flipside of this testing time is that more companies will probably be seeking freelancers to provide support for key business functions and projects. So if you’re a web developer, creative or copywriter who is dealing with redundancy, all might not necessarily be lost, because freelance work is often far better paid than its salaried equivalent and the advantages of ditching frustrating office politics are manifold.
If you want to figure out which freelance roles are currently available, look at job site Indeed for inspiration – you might spot an opening that looks promising.
It’s evident that despite the current challenges, the present day cloud covering jobs and employment might just have a silver lining – let’s hope so!
Do you think working life could improve after Covid-19? Let us know in the comments section!
