This post isn't to sound pessimistic or in the tone of doomsday like scenarios but more of an observational one collated from my experiences. With people gradually coming to terms with this pandemic being the new normal, it's also an attempt to engage with fellow developers like you to understand the mindsets, rationale, and viewpoints behind it.
Let me begin listing of the effects of the pandemic, broadly bucketed into 3 categories.
Ugly
- Many organizations simply didn't have a Business Continuity Plan or were in no shape, or had the resources and expertise to develop one.
- This led to inhumane pay cuts/layoffs/furloughs/no increments en masse for conglomerates with decades of industry experience and start-ups alike.
- Even if the pandemic subsides and/or a cure is found, more of the above will be the new norm in due course of time. Additionally, it'll be cited as the reason for any & almost everything.
- Companies eager to get back on track will resume operations on a frantic note wherein they'll have employees working long hours leading to issues like mental burnout, stress & other lifestyle disorders.
- Military and humanitarian crises will exponentially rise if better disaster management practices are not formulated.
Bad
- Organizations will re-think their expenditure on workspaces, leases, rents, and mortgages thus encouraging more Work from Home.
- This will lead to severe problems for the real-estate industry due to declining revenues. Similarly, some establishments across other sectors such as travel, food, offline entertainment will be knocked offline forever.
- Remote work as the new regular can have more occurrences of internet connectivity issues, power outages, software/hardware failures, too many meetings/calls for daily routine.
- Thereby, work-life balance will be affected since many people tend not to adhere to a strict schedule/discipline. People in countries with strict lockdowns could start feeling isolated.
- Economic damage across the globe has been unprecedented and may take decades to recover.
And finally like the proverbial dessert, here's the good
Good
- Healthcare stands to be given topmost priority.
- In crisis lie many opportunities so a multitude of ventures, start-ups & acquisitions will spring up to solve innumerable problems for the new needs of the world's population.
- E-Commerce will boom towards newer highs since more people will now order essentials online.
- Companies with sound principles will more likely be empathetic towards their employees to provide benefits such as remote work, flexible timings, better healthcare provisions and morale.
- People will value blessings such as health, finances, and interpersonal relationships even more than ever before.
What are some of the effects you think will this Covid pandemic have?
Top comments (4)
Telemedicine has gotten a huge boost here in the US due to the pandemic, at least among the segments of the population that aren't being delusional about the whole thing. Long term this is a good thing for patients, doctors, and insurance companies as there's lower risk, lower cost, and the basic pre-screening that can be done via telemedicine tools is more than sufficient for a lot of things people might go to the doctor for.
I find it interesting that it's taken a pandemic to really cause this kind of uptake here in the US given that many organizations (including the insurance companies) have been pushing telemedicine for years now, and there's been pretty consistent apathy regarding it from most of the population.
Better late than never but I believe like all things, Telemedicine has its own set of pros & cons which if not tackled suitably could cause more problems than it solves. The apathy part is something that exists in most countries because a massive investment in healthcare is often done after a calamity erupts and therefore by & large, treated as a secondary priority.
Are there other sectors you've seen a tectonic shift in or is it just telemedicine?
I've noticed that a lot of restaurants that never offered delivery or carry-out before are doing so now (with a number of the smarter ones employing their existing waitstaff as carhops), though whether that sticks around or not remains to be seen. I've also seen a number of cases in the area where I live where the quality of the carry-out at places that already offered it has improved significantly since before this started, though I doubt that that will continue after this all dies down again (most restaurants have better margins on customers in-house than they do on carry-out, so it makes sense for them to optimize for the in-house experience).
Indeed, lot of novel ventures like these will spawn but persistence across quality & service is a whole different ballgame entirely.