{"id":904,"date":"2021-09-14T06:00:43","date_gmt":"2021-09-14T10:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/futureofworkexchange.com\/?p=904"},"modified":"2021-09-14T10:07:30","modified_gmt":"2021-09-14T14:07:30","slug":"lets-just-say-it-now-business-is-never-going-back-to-normal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/futureofworkexchange.com\/2021\/09\/14\/lets-just-say-it-now-business-is-never-going-back-to-normal\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Just Say It Now: The Business World Is Never Going Back to Normal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWell, I see us returning to the office right after the holidays.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe pushed out our return-to-office date to January 15. Hoping it sticks this time.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBack in May and June, our target date to get the office up-and-running against was September 16. It gave our working parents enough time to get situated with school schedules. But now, we just don\u2019t know. It\u2019s too hard to communicate a date to our staff because things are changing so rapidly.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Those are some direct quotes from HR, talent acquisition, and procurement executives that I\u2019ve spoken to over the past couple of weeks. And then there are these quotes, all from HR executives:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy maternity leave crossed over with the mid-point of the pandemic. My team and I have all been fully remote since then, and I can\u2019t picture any of us going back to the office except for bi-weekly or monthly team meetings or special projects.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhether or not we mandate vaccinations or negative tests, the truth is that our business has fundamentally changed. We\u2019re under 100 employees, which allows us to be a bit nimbler in how we communicate and operate within a virtual setting, and those employees that want to be back at our HQ have had the option for a few months now\u2026but, I just cannot see how we go back to what we were doing before all of this started.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some big question marks we have. Our flexible workforce alone is anywhere between 800 and 1,000 people on any given day. We\u2019ve done a pretty decent job of figuring out who is working where and how to effectively track how well projects are being completed, but there are some very stressful conversations ahead for our leadership team and what our 2022 looks like. Most of my team understand that things have changed, but how many really believe these changes are going to stick? That is the fundamental question at hand for us: do we attempt to slowly return to the way things were before? Or do we just accept that our organization has been permanently transformed?
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

While this is a random sampling of just six executives across the millions across the globe, now is a great time for us to remind ourselves of just how much impact the pandemic had on all<\/em> aspects of our lives. Think of the first day it really hit home for you. That day didn\u2019t necessarily have to be the true beginning of the pandemic as defined by the World Health Organization, so it ranges wildly for each of us.<\/p>\n

I can remember the day after then-President Trump declared a state of emergency, editing a podcast for the following week\u2019s edition of Contingent Workforce Weekly<\/em><\/a>. My wife and mother-in-law spent most of that afternoon at the local Target (unmasked, if we can remember a time like that indoors!), stocking up on essentials in the event we were locked down in our homes for a couple of weeks (or more). That feeling inside of my chest, that sinking<\/em> feeling, was more than just anxiety. It was my brain telling me that we were in something awful for the long haul.<\/p>\n

In so many respects, the pandemic has had an incredibly profound impact on how we shop, how we interact with family and friends, how we travel, and ultimately how we live our lives. Some of us have been mildly sick with COVID-19, others have been hospitalized. Some of us have lost family members and friends. Some of us lost our jobs, homes, careers, and livelihoods. The economy may be bouncing back and the labor market may have recovered the vast majority of job losses from 2020, however, there is an indelible mark on every<\/em> aspect of our lives, including business<\/em>, that will never be the same again.<\/p>\n

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Some businesses may aim for a return to pre-pandemic times, but the way we all work has been transformed…for the better.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are specific complications that we all wish weren’t part of our daily lives, and we certainly can all agree that the scale of tragic loss of life has been truly heartbreaking. I would bet there are several moments per day, too, when we say to ourselves, “I wish I could go back to the way things used to be” when we think of concerts, movies, restaurants, parties, holidays, etc. In due time, those pieces of life will come back to us at a much lower risk than they are today. For the world of business, however, we shouldn’t be thinking about pre-pandemic times, but rather the ways specific “accelerants” forever changed the way we work…forever<\/em>. Consider that:<\/p>\n