The new normal might encourage migrant workers to head back to their home
Ministry of Home Affairs in India released guidelines saying that private offices can now operate in India at 100 per cent capacity. However, the MHA has asked the private firms to work from home as much as possible.
Four-day work week in New Zealand
Not just in our country, several countries across the world are releasing norms for employees as they have started to lose restrictions and ease lockdown. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern asked the businesses in New Zealand to consider a 4-day workweek to boost domestic tourism.
South Korean government has encouraged its companies to conduct workshops or training online as much as possible. They also asked the employees to sit two meters apart, disinfect places that hands often touch and avoid shaking hands. Employees are also urged to minimize domestic and international business trips and use video conferencing and phone calls as much as possible.
Both South Korea and New Zealand have been able to contain the spread of coronavirus. Their guidelines to the employers and employees can be lessons for other companies.
Read more: Lockdown Consequences: The Retail Industry Might Not Look Same post lockdown
Big private companies who have made big changes
Some private companies have also taken various steps to change their work culture to live with the new normal. The social media giant Twitter was one of the first global companies to allow its employees to work from home. Twitter is not going to open its offices before September with few exceptions and no in-person company event will take place till the year ends.
Google has given an option to its employees to work from home till December 2020. Microsoft has allowed its workers to work from home till October 2020. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had recently said that it will allow many of its employees to work from home permanently. He said that about 45,000 people would be working from home within the next decade.
Read more: COVID-19 impact – Want to know how much CO2 emission air restriction saved? Read Here
It is likely for the workers to continue the practice of work from home even after the pandemic is over. A poll conducted by Gallup in the USA, suggested that 59 per cent of workers would want to continue working from home even after the restrictions are lifted.
The present COVID-19 situation can also change the notion that creative work demands campuses with free food, ping pong tables and open office plans.
If work from home becomes a serious thing then migrant workers might head back from big cities to their hometown where the cost of living is lower. This could also affect their pay as salaries might get pegged according to the cost of living.
Have a news story, an interesting write-up or simply a suggestion? Write to us at info@oneworldnews.com
