How many of us regret not buying stock in Zoom’s video platform prior to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, when we could have raked in a hefty 600% profit, eh?
Introverts are loving the new work from home paradigm while extroverts are having more challenges with adapting to the new telecommuting arrangement and negotiating the confines and restrictions from being celled-in at home.
Introversive employees are so enthusiastic about the new arrangements that they are gleefully awaiting the news of the continuation of the telework arrangement. It is nearly unanimous among this worker segment that the preference would be to continue to work from home.
The more gregarious the employee, the more they’re having to work from home is not much unlike a prison sentence and they are enthusiastically looking forward to the day they can return to work in a more normal fashion.
In areas of medicine, insurance, negotiations, and masterminding Zooming-in may not be as productive as the old-fashioned face-to-face interactions of the pre-pandemic world we once knew. Any interpersonal contact if far more effective in-person. Zooming is not as effective when communicating. While it is better than voice only, it still cannot replace the face-to-face energetic connection.
When the workforce has been shattered and restricted to pandemic lockdown, Zoom has been able to help maintain connectivity among coworkers in a virtual group meeting setting. Management is reporting that the group online sessions are nearly as effective as brainstorming in the conference room, though it does lack the energy of live interaction.
Far from Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Multiple Personality Disorder, or demon possession, there is a juggling of personality types that are restricted to the home environment which can be challenging. It’s not too difficult to be Clark Kent when you’re sitting at the desk at the Daily Planet, or maintaining your Superman persona when actively fighting crime, but when you are juggling both personalities at home with little time to shift from one to the other, it can be a problem.
The natural effect of this personality management appears to be to allow the emergence of a third entity who is a hybrid composite of the work persona and the home person, which may become problematic as time goes on.
Then what happens when the pandemic restrictions are lifted?
How will we survive?
The expectation Is that things will go back to normal, but that is likely not the case. It is believed that a new normal will emerge but there will be little time to readjust to this new life paradigm. Families will have to quickly adapt in a world that is somewhat recognizable, with new adaptations that will have to be accommodated.
What will education and transportation look like in the new future?
How will the post-pandemic families deal with issues such as childcare, what will be considered “routine,” and how will parents and children navigate the new terrain?
Will the former telecommuting workforce be able to adequately revert to commuting to and from work and sitting at a desk in an office after working from home?