The current pandemic that the world is going through is one of the largest events in human history. In recent history, no event has caused a global emergency that has caused entire nations to lockdown and tens of thousands of people to lose their lives.
We don't know it yet, but the world will change in profound ways once the dust settles and life tries to go back to normal. The economy and financial systems of the world will surely take a hit. It might be a lot worse than the 2008 crisis.
We as a race might even be forced to change our ways to prevent something like this from ever happening again. Or to put measures in place so that if it happens again, we can quickly respond effectively. Looking at the way things are right now, it sure feels like we were caught off guard.
Anyways, the changes might be for the better. As they say, what doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger. One such change that might get a boost is the 'work from home' culture.
Work From Home
Millions of people around the globe are currently working from home. Essential services like the internet, telecommunications, customer support, logistics and others still need to happen to sustain the civilisation. And so the work must go on.
Many people are experiencing for the first time what working from home feels like. It might raise some new challenges but it is something that the world might get inclined to in the future.
It certainly has a lot of advantages. The cost of transportation is reduced, the pollution caused as a result is reduced, it also reduces costs for corporations, there will be less strain on resources and it might even slow down the spread of a future pandemic before it even starts. There might be many more. These are just off the top of my head.
Being a writer, I am well aware of how it feels to work from home. At times, it can get boring. But it sure is a lot less stressful when you don't have to wake up early, get ready in a hurry, commute to work, commute back, and so on. This actually increases the number of hours you can work everyday! Add that to the list of benefits.
I think this culture could really be something that people and companies take a good hard look at. Of course, the world won't transition to doing this as physical meetings and working together have no alternative. But, something or the other may change in this space.