Since the end of the Second World War, the industrialized workforce and work-life have run a fairly constant and predictable course. You searched for a job, handed it (or email in) a resume, waited for the callback, interviewed, got hired, are trained, worked 9-5 in a defined workspace, surrounded by a revolving cast of coworkers, doing a defined task, climbed the ladder if you're ambitious, rinsed and repeated.
The pandemic has completely upended this model of work. Anyone who was used to, just entering or trying to make their way back into what we thought we knew as the workforce must come to terms with this. Below are the ways that COVID will change work-life forever.
The Job Search
The job-search prior to COVID was almost purely digital, but finding work in the post-pandemic world will be even more so. Jobs sites and job boards will continue to play a major role in locating and securing job opportunities, but unlisted jobs, which already constitute the majority of jobs out there, will become even more important.
Finding out about and accessing these opportunities will involve getting much closer to companies and hiring managers than many people are used to. This includes much more actively following the social media pages and profiles of companies you are interested in working at and being constantly on the look-out for announcements or even hints that they may be hiring for something in your field.
Onboarding
The onboarding process has always involved a substantial amount of written and video communication, but it was predominantly an in-person process, where new hires got to know the company, its core values, their coworkers and their job surrounded by other people. During the pandemic, there has been a notable transition to remote onboarding processes that appear to be working well and are unlikely to go anywhere once (or perhaps, if) people return to physical offices and workplaces.
Video recording software like Loom will be used to pre-record onboarding material, including training videos and modules that help integrate new hires into their roles and teams. Company promotional and organizational culture material will also be recorded and distributed in this way, as well as with professionally produced content.
Outcome as a Measure of Productivity and Performance
Another ceaseless conversation that has been taking place throughout the pandemic concerns the nature and value of performance metrics. The world of HR and organizational behaviour have become highly interested in the ways in which remote work is impacting and will continue to impact productivity, performance and ultimately profit.
Many organizations are reformulating the metrics they use to evaluate employee performance, moving to an outcome-based model where the results you produce are what count. In-tandem with this, and due in large part to the unstructured nature of remote work, many employees will also find the number of hours that they work everyday increase.
Dramatically Reduced Business Travel
Any employees who once enjoyed (or perhaps didn't) a large amount of business-related travel for their job will likely see travel budgets dry up in the short-to-medium term. Both national and international business travel look set to disappear for quite some time as employers try to minimize both the health risks that will forever be associated with mass transportation and travel expenses.
The universalization of virtual meeting software like Zoom and others is already nearly complete and have been accepted as facts of life for most businesses. Companies and their clients have come to terms with a new status quo which necessitates that in-person meeting, relationship building and relationship maintenance be put on hold indefinitely. Relationships being formed and nurtured through a screen will be the new normal.
Cross-skilling and Up-Skilling
Because of massive layoffs, completely restructured workforces and greatly sped-up automation and digitization, the post-pandemic world will also mean organizations will try and maximize what human capital they have kept. Terms like "cross-skilling" and "reskilling" dominate the HR and OB periodicals and journals, referring to efforts to equip workers with more and varying skills. These skills are meant to keep organizations responsive to technological changes and exigencies, such as increasing automation, and to build a workforce that can take on multiple roles if need be.
Professional development and skills training with both of these needs in mind will become commonplace across industries. There appears to be a changing tide in which old, Fordist ideas about repetitive specialization, especially outside of the knowledge industries, are being replaced by new ones concerning agility and responsiveness.
Conclusion
Lenin said that "there are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen." 2020 was a year that forced the future on us early. Whether you were lucky enough not to suffer any of the economic effects of the pandemic, have yet to enter the labour market for the first time, or are trying to make your way back into it, expect the above changes to the world of work in the post-covid era.
