How Will COVID-19 Change The Future Of Work?

Increase in WFH and remote workplaces

COVID-19 has brought in a significant drift in the workplace scenario. Employees continue to work from home as they are cooped up in homes maintaining social distancing. It can be said that the coming days will see more employees embracing the work from home model. A Gartner analysis reveals that 48 % of employees will be working remotely at least for some time compared to 30% pre-pandemic time. The survey further mentions that 74% of CFOs are going to increase remote workin post-COVID times. On the other hand, employees can expect to see more work from home opportunities in their future work or current workplaces, especially when their office leases are up. Some businesses may want to have centralized workspaces where employees can come occasionally as and when needed. The April 2020 survey by Gartner found that 74% of leaders will move atleast 5% of their workforces to a remote working model for good post-COVID-19.

Change in remote work policies

This comes as a no brainer. Since organizations are adopting remote work, this is the next change that employees are expected to see. With almost 74% of companies planning to switch to remote work post-COVID-19 permanently, the remote working policies are going to be restructured to make it more flexible and relevant. While companies like Twitter have already amended their remote work policies, many others are following suit.  

Visible changes in workspaces

Many companies may also remodel their floor-plans to keep the employees physically apart while working in office space. Employees who plan to go back to work can expect to see virtual workplaces and collocated office buildings. Closed cubicles will not be there anymore. Additionally, employees may also see daily temperature checks, visiting an office campus may need permissions and security check-ins. Employees will also need to wear strict workwear. For example, General Motors recently announced that employees returning to work in certain plants must wear personal protective equipment (PPE). Many essential businesses are making it compulsory for employees to wear PPE, gloves, face shields, and facemasks at work places.

Increased access to employee health record

In the coming days, employees can also expect to see that their employer will have greater access to their health records. Employers are expected to do passive tracking of employees as employees start working remotely. In addition to tracking virtual clock in and clock out, computer usage, communications,emails, and chats, employers will also have greater access to employees’ health data. For example, employees may have to share details like if they have COVID 19 antibodies or if their immediate contacts have contracted the virus. However, employers need to be more sensitive to these data usage and positively use them to boost employee engagement across the dispersed workforce. 

Expect more support from organizations

The pandemic has changed our perception and has taught us to be more empathetic towards each other. Throughout the pandemic, employees and employers have built more connected relationships. Going forward, employers will be paying more attention to how to build a resilient team culture. Managers will be more empathetic towards their team members to help them engage and boost morale,especially in remote work or hybrid work model scenarios. Inclusivity and cross border collaboration will also be on the rise. To keep up with the employee experience, HR will play a pivotal role in working with managers and employees to be more supportive and meet expectations associated with these fundamental work-life shifts. 

Job Loss and rise in contingent employees

One of the most significant impacts of COVID-19 has been businesses shutting down, especially in the hospitality and tourism industries. As businesses shrink their operations, job loss might be on the rise. On the other hand, employers would be on the lookout for greater workforce management flexibility. As a result,contingent and gig workers would be in demand. Interestingly, contingent workers can expect to receive the same benefits as their full-time peers. 

Gaining Popularity in a hybrid model

Will there be no going back to the office? Will employees be completely working from remote locations? These are some of the questions that most people are concerned about regarding the change in the workplace in the post-pandemic world. The pandemic has forced even the most reluctant organizations to embrace remote working or a combination of in-office, remote, and semi-remote working model. Such hybrid work models are gaining prominence, and we can assume that many organizations will adopt this work model in the coming days.

Hybrid work models empower employees to have some autonomy in the way they work. For example, they can choose when to work, where to work, and how to work to do their best to maintain a balance between work life and personal life. It is also interesting to note that while 48% of employees would prefer to work in an all-remote model even after COVID, 52% of employees want to go back to the workplace, which is why the hybrid model will work.

Hierarchies are going to flatten

Working in silos and hierarchies have been busted by working from home. It has made all of us more efficient. This has a positive effect. Employees can expect to see amore flattened organization structure and a rise in more project-based work. The cross-functional collaboration will also be on the rise because decisions are made faster when people are involved from different functions.

Improved communication at workplaces

As remote working becomes the new normal, employees can expect to see more proactive and transparent communications from leaders. As teleworking gains momentum, mutual trust will work as the foundation between employees and employers, which means leaders will need to communicate regularly and intentionally, keeping their employees informed at all times about the business strategies and organizational goals.

Target Markets

Every campaign has a set of consumers that they are targeting. The entire campaign is building keeping them in mind. For example, the target market of a luxury brand like Versace will not have a price point in focus. Instead, the focus here would be exclusivity. How a product will be marketed depends upon the choices, preferences and lifestyle of the target consumers.

All Pervasive

Marketing as a process is all pervasive in nature. It can be applied for any product or service in any stream of business. For example, even in non-profit organizations like schools, marketing techniques can be adopted. The techniques can help in identifying right courses for students (products), charging a fair amount of fees (price point, and the extra-curricular activities and facilities act as the USP of marketing the school to get more and more admissions in.

Social Process

When a marketing campaign is conducted it reflects the current image of the society. The campaigns in some cases are a direct mirror of what is happening in the society. For example, in the beauty industry, the awareness of consumers has increased tremendously over the years. Hence, brands ensure that they market themselves as free from paraben, SLS, and other harmful chemicals. Marketing is all about ensuring that the customer satisfaction is met without hampering the public interest in general.

Consumer-Oriented Process

The team is primarily focused on the demands and needs of the consumers. Being that the process is formed entirely on the target audience, by its very nature, marketing is a customer-oriented process. Some teams first take in account the products they have and look for ways to generate its demand amongst customers. While the others, first conduct tons of research and data to understand the customers’ needs and demands, and then create a product accordingly. Any of the strategies can be used depending upon the industry you are and the product you have to offer.

Competitive Advantage

How you market a product, plays a huge role in reaching out to your existing and potential customers. An effective marketing campaign will give you a competitive advantage from the rest in business. The marketing campaigns need to find unique and innovative ways to make their product and their brand stand out. Proactive and unique marketing techniques are a great way of staying ahead in the competition.

Expansion of Business

An effective strategy helps in bringing in more customers, increasing the sales, and overall profits of a business. When a company is making profits, it will be willing to expand its business even further. A company can expand its business by increasing the marketing activity in the current market itself. This is known as market penetration. It can also venture into new marketplaces. This is known as market development. The additional profits the company is making can also be used for enhancing the existing products. This is known as product development.

Integrated Approach

Marketing is an integrated part of a business and does impact other teams of the organization. It is interlinked in nature as it coordinates with various other departments. Some of the most common departments, the marketing team coordinates with are the accounts, finance, sales and production departments. It is not an independent department in itself as it does impact the overall functioning of the organization. For example, the marketing team is working on a campaign. Funds are needed for kickstarting and running the campaign smoothly. Here the marketing will now coordinate with the accounts team and work things out.