The New and Emerging Work Trends Arising From the Pandemic
The sudden and dramatic change in the workplace environment has increased new and emerging work trends. I think we are all agreed that the world of work will never return to the 'normal' we knew before the pandemic struck. I know that I have had to do some major rethinking and pivoting to keep my business alive and sustainable.
Workers and leaders are both calling for permanent changes in how and where they work, workplace relationships and future skills. Some of the emerging trends such as flexible working, high-emotional intelligence leadership, and re-training amongst workers are now becoming critical to organizational success.
With many countries emerging from the acute crisis stage of the pandemic, employers have a unique opportunity to press the reset button on traditional workplace practices - many of which have remained largely unchanged for many decades.
As we step into the new era of work, now is the time to establish and embrace better norms that will enable us to be holistically healthy, productive and be part of the inclusive workforce into the future.
The pandemic has also demanded a new set of leadership skills which are expected to accelerate the reinvention of the current day leader. Leaders should take the opportunity to give their employees more control and, hopefully, discover that they can trust them to manage their own schedules. Leaders may also want to become more hands-on in learning about their employees’ values, interests, strengths, and motivations.
This is also a time when leaders need to be flexible and compassionate. This is not an experiment that any of us opted into, but as long as we're stuck with it, as a leader, it's an opportunity to say: "If I impose less control over people's schedules and plans, that's going to teach me whether I can trust them or not".
Meanwhile, organizations as a whole may embrace remote working and continue to experiment with different ways of working after the crisis is over. Emotional intelligence has clearly emerged as the defining trait of today's successful leader. We need to be more cognizant of the fact that not everyone is able to readily cope with the enormous changes occurring in the workplace.
In new studies, many people say that their mental wellbeing has worsened due to the pandemic, with only 1 in 10 rating their managers highly on their ability to support their needs. Six in 10 employees say their digital skills have improved during the lockdown, while a further two thirds (69%) are looking for further digital training in the post-pandemic era.
With much of the workforce working remotely, there is a new demand to manage staff remotely and a definite need for more soft skills and creative thinking approaches. One of the programs I offer is helping remote workers with my Zoom Boot Camp by Jennifer Grant Zoom Boot Camp https://buy.sec...
A silver lining to all the upheaval during the pandemic is that trust in many corporations has increased. One study showed that 88% of employees said their employer met or exceeded their expectations in adapting to the challenges of the pandemic. This is good news and we should hope this trend continues.
Many of us are learning that we are highly resilient and adaptable even in the face of such uncertainty and adversity. I think one of the ways we can cope with the uncertainty is to recognize the obstacles and hardships we have already overcome. We can all learn lessons of our own resilience which will better help us better deal with the present and navigate our future.
We are all in this new world together, let's keep evolving and supporting each other.