Life in a lockdown – An Insider View

Blog written by Vani Narayanan, a designer by profession and Ram Narayanan, a corporate professional. The couple live in Mumbai, India.

In early February`20, when the corona virus wreaked havoc in China, we were was regularly in conversation with our family friends, official contacts and associates in China. Hearing their experiences in the clampdown in China, we could only empathize with them and were very hopeful that the world would be back to normalcy by early March`20. How wrong we were! Life has returned to normalcy in China but the entire world has been shaken by the Corona virus!!

When the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, announced the first phase of lockdown in India in mid-March`20, lives of many corporate professionals and business people turned upside down. After all, March is the financial year end in India and is the peak time for economic activity in India. The lockdown not only threw economic activity out of gear in India but also affected the work practices of working professionals, businessmen, gig economy workers and sadly daily wage workers.

As we speak now, the process of easing the lockdown has started in India and jury is out on the pluses and minuses of the lockdown. Nevertheless, the lockdown experience in the past couple of months portends to a different future of work. 

Lockdown adjustment issues have been galore for working professionals

Many corporate professionals, especially those living in crowded cities like Mumbai, have been vouching for work from home (wfh) flexibility for enhanced productivity and work-life balance. 

The present extended has forcefully necessitated an extended remote working but has had its own set of challenges some which are –

·      Getting used to extended remote working with no face to face interactions. Setting up new work processes for remote working and align team members accordingly.

·      Remote working tools like Microsoft teams and Zoom were of great help but issues like clogged networks, IT hardware issues, etc had to be dealt with.

·    Lack of face to face social interactions between employees were replaced by structured online conversations or phone conversations. However, staring into computer screens all throughout the day for all work activities builds up its own pressures as after all the human is a social animal.

·        Lack of wfh enablers – No proper demarcated work space at home (especially in cramped houses in places like Mumbai), family pressures from the household work in the lockdown especially with the mobility restrictions imposed by the authorities. 

·        Prison effect - People who are used to travel regularly and in the creative field, which needs face   to face social interactions, had to adjust to the new reality.

However, there have been many positives from the lockdown too...

Enhanced work productivity making companies happy

ü  Enhanced productivity from remote working busted all myths and perils of wfh. Many companies like the Indian IT behemoth - TCS have announced wfh for a majority of their employees on a permanent and structured basis. In fact, many soft skills-based firms, like legal firms, have plans of reducing their office space areas to reduce costs.

ü  Many core industries companies, especially those with a number of non-IT savvy and anti – wfh employees, have accepted the strengths and advantages of this new era practice. Time and effort saved in commute to work have been converted to enhanced productivity.

Better work – life balance

Lockdown has ensured that many working professionals who led a hectic life and been mostly on the 

move have been able to spend more time with their families. With no

social interactions, travel and other distractions, family activities have

been on the increase. Social media posts of families working out,

family cooking sessions, teaching kids, etc have been on the increase.

Fitness as a way of life 

Runners and cyclists like us had to change exercise routines and adapt 

to the lockdown guidelines. Varied indoor workouts, thanks to our coaches as well as social media,

ensured that we all stay healthy and fit. Many people in our friends’ circle and perennial couch 

potatoes have utilized this time to start exercising and look fitter!! Similarly, online workouts have

been given a boost, which if sustained continuously, will lead to more healthier people on the planet.

Upskilling and reskilling

ü  New hobbies: A foodie like Ram, having tasted different cuisines across the world and different states in India, never ventured into the kitchen ever to cook a meal for the family. The lockdown enthused him to start learning to cook and try different cuisines. Its proved to be a great de - stresser from his professional pressures and of course a great feeling from gaining a new skill.

ü  Online learning: Training and Development teams across organizations have been very active in promulgating online learning.  Thanks to LinkedIn learning, Coursera, etc the opportunities to learn have been vast with online webinars, virtual conferences, etc having mushroomed all across.

Cleaner and Greener planet

ü  In a polluted city like Mumbai, the sight of azure blue skies, birds chirping throughout the day and

   clean and fresh air haven’t been experienced by people of my generation at any time. In the northern parts of India, the Himalayas can be sighted from many cities thanks to the clear skies. The waters of the holy Indian river Ganges, which were polluted by the many industries on this path, have turned crystal pure something which the authorities have been trying to unsuccessfully do for the last 30 years with various scientific options.

Living with limited means

ü With supplies of many items, especially non-essentials being restricted, people have learnt to live with what they have. No fast food items, no going out to restaurants, no movie theaters, no shopping malls. Taking cue from this experience, a permanent reduction in consumption of discretionary spend items can lead to lesser consumerism, lesser pressure on natural resources, better resources spend on essentials like education, healthcare, etc.    

However,  we need to spare a thought for the people adversely affected

While some of the regular salaried corporate professionals can count on the gains from the lockdown and ponder over the work challenges, one should spare a thought for the people who have lost their daily livelihood due to the lockdown.

Daily workers, some of whom have been glamorously christened as gig workers, - Uber cab drivers, pizza delivery boys, restaurant waiters and many more of the same fraternity have been rendered jobless and without any income. In India, with many medium and small firms shutting shop many daily wage migrant workers lost their jobs and, with no money, many of them in fact embarked on a multi-day, long distance walks back to their villages in the scorching heat leading to a migrant crisis.  Many firms especially those exposed to travel, airlines, etc have retrenched some of their personnel.

What are the takeaways for the future of work...

The future world work space will certainly look different as one can’t imagine. A whole new set of practices will surface with more adoption of technology and lesser social and more online interactions. As an extreme thought many firms, like start-ups, may exist only virtually with no permanent establishments. Firms will move with an enhanced vigor for digitization in the post Corona world to meet social distancing norms.

Hence many challenges with spring up in the future a few of which we can foresee-

• Will any new consumer behavioral trends, from the lockdown experience, lead to a structural change in the jobs market? Will retail consumerism be affected?  For instance, social distancing norms leading to lesser shopping mall visits by people, can led to lesser showroom sales boys and sales girls jobs. A new set of skill sets will have to be developed to meet a new set of job skills.

 ·  What will be the governments policies in this new way of work like taxation of commercial

     establishments? 

     

     ·   Will newer mode of social interactions among workers effect adversely or enhance innovations,

         path breaking scientific work?

Interesting times ahead for sure certainly. Still then stay safe folks!!