Every cloud has a silver lining. And even this dark cloud we know as CoViD-19 has its silver lining of lessons too, both for personal and professional consideration. With movement restrictions imposed on people and businesses alike, the very way of working as we know it is radically transforming, and will continue to do so. Businesses have looked to tech-enabled methods to maintain continuity of their operations. That said, humans, whether they’re employees or not, are the link of the chain that make them stand as an organization. To that extent, the impact of the lockdown and restriction on individuals is one that’s affected too. On that note, five lessons that CoViD-19 has given us.

Mental Health Takes Precedence

Social Distancing has been a necessity; but employees find this to be a problem exacerbated by various circumstances. This includes loneliness, and redundancies as various companies’ step towards managing the impact on their operations. Companies need to align their resources and activities towards ensuring the well-being of their employees even while under remote working, just as they would on-site. In fact, organizations such as the World Health Organization have acknowledged the same, stating that “feeling under pressure is a likely experience for you and many of your colleagues. It is quite normal to be feeling this way in the current situation.” And that “Stress and the feelings associated with it are by no means a reflection that you cannot do your job or that you are weak.”

Prolonged Remote Working is possible

A strange paradox of the lockdown is that jobs which were supposed couldn’t be done remotely, turned out to be very much able. Of course, this is given the right communications tools and technology. Several companies have undergone a quantum leap towards digital support of remote working and the creation of virtual teams. This is inclusive of an increased use of innovative virtual communication tools; one such being MultiCall.

It’s quite possible to contemplate that managing COVID-19 with minimal impact (commercial or economical) would have been far more facilitated, if more companies had looked to embrace remote working sooner. In its flexibility, remote working has provided a gift of spending more time. More time with family, or to do other aspects that are extremely beneficial. Even post-lockdown, companies can factor this and restructure operation hours to be more flexible.

A Time For Giving

At this time, many may consider themselves fortunate at this point to not be worried about ability to stock up on goods, or to not be as vulnerable to CoViD owing to age, health, or fitness. From a career standpoint, having security in employment, finance, too, are privileges. Even a reliable Wi-Fi is a privilege at this point. Considering those who don’t have said privileges, companies can align towards providing for this in multiple manners.

The first would be through the very products and  services they offer. Bridging the current and desired situation of customers by providing for their needs becomes of the essence at this point.  Companies can also align through the use of resources in their operations as well. Efficient use of resources would mean minimal wastage of the same, and therefore more to provide for others. Companies can also initiate various CSR initiatives, and provide  for job security with relevant recruitment opportunities via tech-enabled employment.

Rethinking Social Interactions & Comment

It comes as no surprise that one of CoViD-19’s consequences has been a drastic reduction in physical interactions. This is not just in personal context, but in that of businesses as well, with increased use of virtual communication tools. While this helps increase potential participation of workers who may otherwise have trouble with physical interaction, barriers may result from use of video in the cases of individuals working from home environment. Social media have humorously shown rather humorous cases of pets walking across the screen, or other distractions in the background. And with the spikes  in network usage, internet reliability, and therein video quality is compromised. To that extent, video conferencing may not be the best solution at this time.

Audio conferencing solutions like MultiCall help in this case. Letting you call your entire team in one go, one of the primary features MultiCall offers is call monitoring; giving you complete control over the call. This includes letting you mute/unmute participants, so as to help avoid disturbance due to noise on call. The app requires data only for initiation of call, and offers superior voice clarity on par with, if not better than a regular phone call.   And even in the event that a user gets dropped, they can rejoin the call by simply dialing back the same number.

Environmental Management : Physical and Internal

Even with the easing on movement restrictions in certain areas, far less (if not no) usage of vehicles in the affected areas have been observed. Consequently, pollution has dropped, and emissions are far less. And you would’ve seen it in the news. The drastic improvement in water quality in Italy’s canals; with numerous marine life spotted. The drop in pollution by almost 50% in New York, one of the world’s most densely populated areas. This is also being catalyzed in parts of the world by mild winters and electricity providers switching away from coal. Keeping all the above in mind, we have a second chance at recoverability from climate change. And companies of every size and nature would do well to strive to take corrective steps, lest the consequences be dire.

Conclusively, companies will need to have a clear understanding toward poising for the best interest of their environment and the people that they directly or indirectly affect. They need to take careful steps to modify their measures. This includes working from home if one can, and only going to work if one must, with appropriate tools for the former, and safety guidelines for the latter.

 “Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal; a gateway between one world and the next.”  – Arundhati Roy