In this edition of Wundamail Voices, we caught up with the Founder of The ImageMaker, Inc.® Communication Group, Dr Joyce Knudsen, to get her views on the future of work and what she's identified as some key issues.
The future of work
The future of work, as I see it is to embrace what has occurred during the Pandemic, find purpose in what we have gleaned from going through the process and gain perspective to look at possibilities for what needs to happen in work environments now that many people are headed toward going back to work.
There are some thoughts:
1. Some people may have found something they love to do from home and decided on taking the entrepreneurial route. This is however taking away from the workplace and thus losing good qualified skilled people.
2. People have seen the value of spending more time with their children and begin to count how much they can save on gas, lunch, baby sitters and acceptable clothing for the workplace.
3. Workers may become more respectful to their coworkers where they shared a common experience.
4. They will be more grateful and be more appreciative toward their their employers; sort of a comradeship that both of you have been through.
5. Most likely people will be more respectful of peoples space, as everyone understands the severity of how this virus is transferred.
6) On the negative side, losing control over our lives due isolation with social distancing, not being able to smile due to masks has made us stay more to ourselves.
7) We all have been locked up with one another in local quarantine and had to get to know the neighbors and family members we’ve always ignored. We might distribute ourselves less widely, and so be more present to the people around us.
8) Shared experiences tend to bring out the best and the worst in us. An epidemic may engender and foster altruistic heroes.It may remind us of neglected constituencies. Mortality and serious illness are higher among the old, young, and those suffering from other diseases. We tend to think about – and legislate for – the healthy and robust. The epidemic should remind us that they are not the only stakeholders.
9) It may make future epidemics less likely.The lessons learned from the coronavirus epidemic will pay dividends in the future. We will be more realistic about the dangers of viruses crossing the barriers between species.
10) The whole notion of public health has been rehabilitated. Private healthcare may not be the answer. Much has been learned about the containment and mitigation of infectious disease. There are strenuous competitive and cooperative efforts to begin the search for a vaccine to be developed faster as a direct result of this outbreak.
11) It is also possible us all realistic about medicine. Medicine is not omnipotent. Recognizing this might make us more aware of our vulnerabilities. The consequences of that are not easy to predict, but living in the world as it really is, rather than in an illusory world, is probably a good thing. And recognizing our own vulnerability might make us more humble and less presumptuous. Wildlife may benefit as China has announced a permanent ban in consumption and conservation, and animal welfare, from a human health perspective.
The future of work, as I see it is to embrace what has occurred during the Pandemic, find purpose in what we have gleaned from going through the process and gain perspective to look at possibilities for what needs to happen in work environments now that many people are headed toward going back to work.
There are some thoughts:
1. Some people may have found something they love to do from home and decided on taking the entrepreneurial route. This is however taking away from the workplace and thus losing good qualified skilled people.
2. People have seen the value of spending more time with their children and begin to count how much they can save on gas, lunch, baby sitters and acceptable clothing for the workplace.
3. Workers may become more respectful to their coworkers where they shared a common experience.
4. They will be more grateful and be more appreciative toward their their employers; sort of a comradeship that both of you have been through.
5. Most likely people will be more respectful of peoples space, as everyone understands the severity of how this virus is transferred.
6) On the negative side, losing control over our lives due isolation with social distancing, not being able to smile due to masks has made us stay more to ourselves.
7) We all have been locked up with one another in local quarantine and had to get to know the neighbors and family members we’ve always ignored. We might distribute ourselves less widely, and so be more present to the people around us.
8) Shared experiences tend to bring out the best and the worst in us. An epidemic may engender and foster altruistic heroes.It may remind us of neglected constituencies. Mortality and serious illness are higher among the old, young, and those suffering from other diseases. We tend to think about – and legislate for – the healthy and robust. The epidemic should remind us that they are not the only stakeholders.
9) It may make future epidemics less likely.The lessons learned from the coronavirus epidemic will pay dividends in the future. We will be more realistic about the dangers of viruses crossing the barriers between species.
10) The whole notion of public health has been rehabilitated. Private healthcare may not be the answer. Much has been learned about the containment and mitigation of infectious disease. There are strenuous competitive and cooperative efforts to begin the search for a vaccine to be developed faster as a direct result of this outbreak.
11) It is also possible us all realistic about medicine. Medicine is not omnipotent. Recognizing this might make us more aware of our vulnerabilities. The consequences of that are not easy to predict, but living in the world as it really is, rather than in an illusory world, is probably a good thing. And recognizing our own vulnerability might make us more humble and less presumptuous. Wildlife may benefit as China has announced a permanent ban in consumption and conservation, and animal welfare, from a human health perspective.
Hopefully other nations will follow suit.
Dr Joyce Knudsen is the Founder of The ImageMaker, Inc.® Communication Group in 1985, and writer of 10 books that have made her a Best Seller, including From Head to Soul for Women and From Head to Soul for Men (both in their 4th edition) about Fashion & Style.
