Why the Pandemic Forever Changed How We View Work

(Originally written September 30, 2022)

Paradigm Shift

The pandemic itself did not create worker dissatisfaction or the deeper desire to disrupt or reinvent one’s job or career. Rather, the pandemic scared us just enough to raise important questions about how we live our lives and what “career” means to us. Regardless of what everyone believes individually about the pandemic, it was a massive, all-inclusive, life-altering and shared occurrence. Initially, it forced us to ask a pivotal question that would have seemed unreasonable to ask in the past; Do I HAVE to be in the office every day to get my job done effectively?

Here’s how many seem to have responded; Now that I’m working from home…

• I’m getting more done around the house while still being productive at work (laundry, bill paying, housekeeping, productive personal work, phone calls, etc.).

• I’m away from my manager and colleagues and feeling less distracted.

• I no longer have a commute, which means…

• ...I’m getting loads of time back into my schedule.

• ...I’m more relaxed/less stressed because I’m no longer having to deal with traffic, angry, impatient, and aggressive drivers, or mass transit commuters.

• ...I’m saving money (no gas, tolls, parking, public transportation).

• ...My car is going up in value relatively speaking, because I’m putting far less miles on it than I ever imagined.

• I have more time to think and plan my work and my life.

• I am able to be home significantly more with my family (the benefits here are beyond measure).

• I’m getting overdue home improvement projects and repairs done because I’m able to be home for contractors and technicians.

• I can be with my pets throughout the day (they’re happier and no doggie day care cost).

• I see a lot more sunlight now from my home windows or in my yard (sometimes I work outside!).

• I manage my workday according to my natural work rhythm, which is less affected by typical in-office scheduling.

• I’m getting more sleep because I don’t have to get up as early to accommodate traffic.

• I’m exercising more because there’s more available time in my daily schedule.

All of the above amount to tremendous, quality of life changes and there’s likely many more that could be added to the list. Individually, these factors can be significant, but cumulatively they’re a paradigm shift, and we haven’t yet gotten to one of the most powerful factors that came from the pandemic, employee leverage!

Power to the People

The pandemic caused a rare and very broad power shift in the balance between employers and employees in office settings. The collective pull-back of the employee population created more power on the worker side of the negotiating table. Prior to the pandemic, many, if not most workers felt somewhat powerless in their ability to persuade employers to accommodate or even consider their often-hidden preferences. Covid 19 ultimately caused employers to yield to unspoken yet pressing demands and needs of employees. Companies were forced to acquiesce to the plight of workers, whether in sincerity or for the sake of political correctness.

Remember, in the first few months of the pandemic, we didn’t know if or how we’d EVER get back to pre-pandemic norms. Employers had to be very careful about discussing or even mentioning returning to the office. After all, they themselves or someone close to them could be or become gravely ill or even die. These were delicate times.

There are some things that present so much traumatic impact that they alter your perspective permanently. This is perhaps the most inconspicuous effect of the pandemic on the employer-employee relationship, the resetting of priorities in the minds of workers. Life trumped work by a sizable margin.

Once the pandemic reached its unavoidable impact, employers were forced to prioritize employee needs, and guess what? It felt good for employees. It felt great. The American workforce had never collectively experienced this level of power, autonomy, importance, control, significance, and freedom, or at least not anything that still lives in our collective conscious. It was shocking but it welcomed a new emphasis on the “life” portion of the work-life portmanteau.

It was perhaps intoxicating for workers to have the cards stacked in their favor in a game where they usually have relatively little, or no power. This is toothpaste that simply will not go back into the tube. New thoughts and possibilities appear for workers; Do I even like this job? Maybe I should switch careers, relocate to a better city or climate, or maybe go to school. Now that companies are struggling to find workers, I have much more value and many more choices. My stock is up for a change, I’ve got some juice!

The Great Rethink

There’s a broader kind of change that occurred alongside the shift in power from company to employee. Having the daylights scared out of us had many thinking more about the meaning and purpose of life itself. What’s it all for? Why am I stuck working hard and long hours, feeling powerless and unappreciated and forever at the mercy of corporate America? I’m thinking more about my family now, my health, my dog, my time, and my impact on this planet, etc.

In fact, this new dawn of questioning spawned new thinking way beyond the workplace concerning society at large. During the pandemic we witnessed the unleashing of a fair amount of suppressed anger, discontent, disillusionment, as well as desire for change in forms we might not have seen coming. There was civil and political unrest, but at the same time there was also hope for lasting reform and opportunities to rethink anything we’d been perhaps taking for granted or not desperate enough to consider challenging. A new era of not good enough, let’s demand something better, was underway. The pandemic changed us…permanently.

The pandemic granted us an unsolicited break, and a long one at that. It gave us a vacation from being utterly overwhelmed, distracted, controlled, and caged by our jobs. It took us off the hamster wheel just long enough to allow us to experience what our lives are really about beyond work and vocational pressure. It allowed us to ask what else might be important, what might be possible. It gave us the excuse to care openly about ourselves, our families, and friends…our existence beyond our favorite area of deflection and distraction; the frantic obsession we call work.

Creating A New Normal

Is it any wonder that we can’t just snap back? Now that we’re sort of getting our heads above water, we hear the conventional and somewhat perplexed voices of various technology giants and big banks losing patience out loud. Ok folks, enough pandering to your laziness, back to the salt mines! The problem is that it’s not possible to force people back to a time before their eyes were opened, before they tasted the forbidden fruit.

The pandemic was a paradox. It was a curse for sure, but it was also a gift. A forced pause. A chance for awakening. An opportunity. It was as if the divine force of life stopped us in our tracks and said, are you sure you want to spend your sole, precious, brief gift of life on this planet this way? I’ll give you some time to rethink that.

Workers have responded; they don’t want to do things the way they did them before. Appropriately, they want something new for a new age; they want a more meaningful experience at work. They’re not getting back with the old program of work above all else because it’s obsolete. They need change in the workplace, not because they’re uncaring, stubborn, or lazy but because they’ve changed and grown in their thinking. Their core values have come to the forefront. Collectively through the lessons of the pandemic, we’ve all gained awareness regarding what’s really important, now we’ve got to do something constructive with it.

This is a shared responsibility. They’ll be no new norm without contribution and compromise from both sides. There must be a reckoning, an accounting and ultimately a fresh, robust and innovative collaboration between employee and employer to create real balance for a new age. Fear not everyone, it’s not the end of loyalty and strong work ethic. It’s the beginning of a better version. Let’s get to work and share the burden of recreating it. It begins with a simple step; both sides leaning in and just listening to become more aware of what matters to the other side. Who’s in?