Changes in Work, Workforce and Workplace due to Covid-19 –  Organisation and Employees perspective

The outbreak of pandemic has posed gravest threat to the health and lives of people. It has simultaneously impacted them on the economic front. This is because with a view to restrict the spread of the virus, governments in different countries around the globe had introduced social distancing measures. In accordance with this, many businesses were shut down while those that could carried out business online, experienced a digital transformation (Li et al., 2020, p. 199). 

Such transformation of corporate activities gave significant momentum to the concept of Work from Home (WFH). From an organisational perspective, employers were forced to shift their crucial everyday tasks like internal meetings, client meetings, and others on digital scaffold (Soto-Acosta, 2020). Moreover, from employee’s perspective, especially those that were fresh candidates, WFH has been the most difficult experience as digital training practices were not previously followed in every organisation. In contrast to this, those with a substantial experience only found a shift in working from conventional offline scaffold to digital online scaffold (Li et al., 2020). Thus, on this note, it can be comprehended that Covid-19 has proved to bring significant changes in the manner employers and employees used to work, recruit, and locate themselves. In this regard, the current concept paper is directed toward outlining these aspects governing the future of work, workforce and workplace owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

With a view to understand, how Covid-19 pandemic has shaped the future of work, workforce, and workplace, it is critical to examine the situations that have governed the organisations and employees after the outbreak of the pandemic. 

Role of physical proximity defines and shapes work arenas 

One of the major alterations that has occurred due to digital transformation is the elevation of physical proximity. The interaction among workers, workers with customers and workers with top management all decline suddenly owing to lack of physical proximity and physical environment in which it would take place (Lund et al., 2021, pp. 13 – 26). It is critical to understand that not all businesses can be carried out remotely. Additionally, it is not necessary that business operations that have been able to transition to digital scaffolds are efficiently operating (Holgersen et al., 2021, pp. 3 - 5). While customers can be managed online, internal communication of the organisations often demand other psychological factors for ensuring efficiency (Martinez and Hurtado, 2018, p.3). In this regard, it is essential for the employers to motivate employees, have a sound communication system as well as structure in place and ensure that the employees are trained well to deal with different internal changes and situations (Hai et al., 2021, p.22). 

According to McKinsey Global Institute (2021) report published to unveil the future of work post Covid-19, work arenas like medical care, personal care, on-site customer service, travel and leisure were the most disrupted. Additionally, Ahmed (2021) affirms that pandemic not only altered changes in business operations but also consumer behaviours that will persist for a significantly long period of time. 

Remote work and its implications

Remote work is defined as “being detached from traditional fixed places of work” (Felstead and Henske, 2017, p. 195). Transition to remote working has led to significant alterations and challenges for both employees and employers. A survey conducted by LinkedIn, outlined that the tendency to get stressed out due to work was strategically increased wherein 62 per cent of the employees were more stressed than prior to the Covid-19 outbreak (Savic, 2020). Similarly, employees also delineated that they were being taken for granted by employers as they were working for more than prescribed working timing (Hayes et al., 2020); and they were liable to respond to work calls and emails at any time (Farooq and Sultana, 2021). These factors were directly response for increased levels of stress and disruptions in emotional well-being (Daariy, 2021, pp. 1-5).

Subsequently, it can be stated that employers, too faced many challenges. One of the primary challenges for every organisation was reduced workforce with which they were working (Gómez et al., 2020). Lack of employee loyalty, increased absenteeism, lack of engagement, misinformation sharing, deviance behaviour and so on were some of the other critical issues faced by the organisations due to remote working which further affected their already declining productivity negatively (Qin et al., 2021; Islam et al., 2020; Hamouche, 2021).

Acceleration of digitization, e-commerce, and automation 

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has increased the pace of digitalisation and automation. This is because businesses have realised that without altering their current practices, they cannot ensure their resilience, nor excel with higher productivity (ETHRWorld, 2021). In this regard, along with businesses, governments of different countries too are taking significant measures for ensuring development of a digital infrastructure that is viable to conduct business (OECD, 2020). Another report by McKinsey & Company highlighted that there is an increase in businesses that are transitioning to e-commerce business model due to increase in demand by the consumers that shop through such scaffolds (Lund et al., 2021b, pp. 4 – 6). Furthermore, Korinek and Stiglitz (2021) also outlined through their research that there is a significant increase in adoption of automated technology and artificial intelligence post the pandemic. This is majorly because Covid-19 pandemic has made businesses realised that manual labours are vulnerable to various health conditions and natural disasters. In this regard, automation and AI technologies can ensure carrying out of uninterrupted business activities even during vulnerable times like pandemic with higher efficiency and productivity. 

It can be ascertained that the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has altered the way people used to work, the place of work and thereby, the skills required to accomplish their work. Moreover, there is an increasing trend to transitioning to digital scaffold and adoption of latest technology which will alter the needs of the organisations while recruiting employees. A decade before, organisations may have wanted to recruit employees that are efficient in communicating, carrying out work with higher engagement and so on. Nonetheless, this situation is completed changed today, wherein employers are more inclined to recruit employees that are tech-savvy and able to not only operate different technologies but also remain loyal during crisis situations. Moreover, employees too are more inclined towards working from home as they may find significant time to be around with their family while some may experience blurring boundaries between work and family. Additionally, it can be highlighted that potential employees are required to gain technological skills as it has become one of the critical aspects that will decide their employability while veteran employees must adapt to these new changes to ensure their survival. Nonetheless, it can be stated that there is a significant gap in the existing literature pertaining to how Emotional Quotient (EQ) and Intelligence Quotient (IQ) of employees can play a pivotal role in enhancing an Organisation’s Agility Quotient (AQ) during the times of such crisis. Subsequently, how this association will help the organisations and shape the future of work, workforce, and workplace.

Whether or not remote working is suitable to the needs of both employers and employees, remains a question. However, one thing that is evident is that both organisations and employees in some specific industries have adapted to the transitions that occurred due to the pandemic and these transitions will remain for a long period of time which in turn, will shape the future of work, workplace, and workforce in a completely new manner.