Virtual goes the Weasel!
Covid-19 has turned our lives topsy-turvy. In Calgary, schools have been closed and we have been working from home since March 16, 2020. Today (April 21, 2020) is week 6 of this craziness, which is quickly becoming the new normal. Work is done in the home office, meetings via MS Teams, classroom via Google Meet and drinks/coffee with friends via Zoom.
When we go back to the “old ways”, what will change and what will remain the same? It is a fun game to guess and make predictions (everyone is doing it), so here are my predictions:
- People who are sick (cold/flu etc.) won’t go into the office wearing it as a badge of honor like before, they will most probably work from home instead of spreading their germs in the office.
- Cubicles will be spaced out more with taller walls and maybe back to offices versus open space concepts.
- Working from home will become more common place as we have proven that it works.
- More cleaning, sanitation and better air filtration at the office buildings.
- Would people still shake hands when they meet each other? Perhaps not.
- Coughing in public will be taboo.
- Some companies might save costs by downsizing their office space and have a mobile workforce mostly working from home and coming in occasionally for some meetings.
- Public transit might get less popular? More people driving to downtown?
- Online shopping will become even more popular than before as people get used to it during the lockdown (buy Amazon and Alibaba stocks?)
- Wearing masks might become more common place in North America/Europe as it is in China.
