The economic impact of forced lockdowns and the suspension of movement in general, and trade in particular, is expected to throw the business world into a sustained crunch period. How to reimagine work post-pandemic.

Almost all businesses will have to deal with the fallout. While a few will benefit, they will not be enough to keep the entire system floating.

For example, Zoom Video doubled in value in 2 months to the end of March 2020 and is now valued the same as Expedia, Royal Caribbean, MGM Resorts, American Airlines, AMC Theatres, Hyatt Hotels, Harley Davidson, GoPro and Macy’s COMBINED. However major market indices have fell almost a third over the same period.

Some big brands are not expecting to emerge from this period intact, and smaller businesses are doubtful about very survival.

The new order of flexible work

There is no doubt that these are scary times, and that companies need to be agile, intuitive and adaptive to this new order. Some of the short-term emergency arrangements imposed to combat the virus spread will become fixtures of the workplace.

Like remote work, as part of a broader flexible work model. The graphic below from Smarkk Innovation Labs captures ten potential areas of impact that covid-19 is anticipated to have on business in a post-pandemic world.

Enough has been said and written about flexible work – the bottom line is that we will find that it will no longer be an auxiliary policy in the post-pandemic world, but a key component of people strategies.

So will the use of infused talent or independent freelance consultants as we discussed previously.

Work and pay redefined

What we also expect to happen is a redefinition of how we value work.

For far too long, we have priced work (in the form of pay) in terms of market demands, and not in terms of societal value. One of our One Circle reward experts often remarked, pre-covid, that he couldn’t understand how our world valued a head of reward higher than a doctor, or how we get away with paying teachers less than office receptionists.

This view is going to be turbocharged once we emerge from this crisis and post-pandemic.

We are being reminded that the people who keep our world operating are not the ones who sit in office writing reports, but the ones who ensure we’re connected, clean our worlds, keep the lights on, make sure we’re safe, and heal us. They’re the ones who grow or make our food and get food safely to us.

It took a crisis of this magnitude to shine a bright light on the disconnect between how flawed a pay system is when it is driven by free market, capital generating inputs, as opposed to contribution to a better society through basic human needs.

We now are forced to recognise the contributions of those who make sure our basic, very real needs are satisfied. We even call them “essential skills” in order they may leave their families during a lockdown, exposing themselves to the threat of exposure. To satisfy our needs and to take care of us.

When we emerge, post-pandemic, we do not expect to go back to a world where contributions to society are ignored when assessing work. We already see reward professionals building pay determination models that include inputs decoupled from the view that work is purely about the pursuit of profit.

We will see a world of work where people reflect on the days we currently live in and say, work is more than this, so let’s attach value accordingly.

Our One Circle consultants include reward specialists from all over the world, who are human above all else.

Connect with one to talk about how you can shape your pay philosophy and system in a post-pandemic world – www.onecirclehr.com.