Many say that Covid-19 has taught us what is important in life. It has brought us close to many facets of many realities, be it work life, relationships, academia, businesses, etc. The global lockdown has shown what matters most, and how simple life can actually be.
The lockdown has created more closeness with our live-in family members and simultaneously necessitated social distance with other members of our family.
Meeting parents, siblings, or children has been a challenge and sometimes life-threatening too.
To add to that, living in close confinement, with health and financial stress along with the unpredictability of life, took a severe toll on every individual. Not being able to see loved ones, or the mere uncertainty of ever seeing loved ones, is not an easy burden on the mind. The impact of social distancing has led to relationships and social commitments being put on the back burner, for survival of the fittest has become a harsh reality.
The pandemic taught us that we need to make every fleeting moment count when it comes to the people we love and cherish and who really matter in our life. With this realization, we need to move forward with our commitment towards our relationships and devote quality time whenever possible -- which otherwise was taken for granted at many levels for many years.
In this new world of business, the workplace culture is going to determine how we reshape our working environment. There are different sectors in the industry that need different approaches. Regardless of the health sector, manufacturing, tourism, retail, or even the entertainment world, business models need to be built.
The ideas would be the same, but approaches have to be different. What works for one may not be pertinent for the other.
Businesses are built on people even if they try to incorporate AI technology in their systems. The culture of any business sector should focus on improving efficiency by bringing the people together. A research done by Stewart Butterfield, CEO of Slack found out that only 12% of the workers want to go back to the office, while 72% of the knowledge workers want to go back to the hybrid remote office model.
In Bangladesh, the bulk of the workforce cannot work from home -- either due to the digital divide or because the majority of our workforce are labour orientated. Hence, these vulnerable workers’ safety needs to be prioritized and the ways of working have to be thought through.
Organizations in countries need to set standards and consequently, the stakeholders will follow. What remains to be seen is what components of empathy do we incorporate to balance the needs of business and social safety.
The health care industries worldwide need to understand that in the era of globalization, one country’s healthy medical environment can be another country’s concern. A wet market in Wuhan has shaken the whole world to its core. Countries like ours have to focus more on development in these sectors. Training and teaching to handle pandemics need to be developed.
Much to the dismay of many, especially those who are the victims, respect has been replaced with mistrust. The government had given its warnings to these illicit behaviours but certain behaviours need to be developed from within. One can only hope and pray these realizations arise and are seen in action in our near future.
Life moves on despite many unexpected hurdles. In this new year, with the hope of the arrival of vaccines to cure Covid-19, there is light at the end of the dark tunnel. What is yet to be seen, however, is the distribution strategy and power play that will strike during the roll-out of these vaccines. Gratification and realization are perhaps the most sought-out characteristic in mankind currently.
Mahzabeen Faruque is a Lecturer at State University of Bangladesh.
