The pandemic changed the script of our work style. The cloud loomed large over all of us for two years changing the way we worked, lived, interacted and had fun. We shifted from a real to a real time, smart, all digital world. I am talking of those who work for information technology and knowledge industry in general. The pandemic was a bolt from the blue. We are still unsure how or where from it sprang though the well known but much doubted and debated version of Hunan as the origin of corona still persists. At the moment India and a large part of the world are free from fear of pandemic though there are bad news from China, partially from the UK, France and Israel too.

Are we ready for the new normal? Companies have begun to ask employees back to the office, Indian IT giants are all playing safe by trying a hybrid mode, once or twice WFO the rest of the week WFH. In USA employees are leaving old jobs avoiding WFO for WFH, the country and its companies are suffering from high attrition. India witnesses a different picture since jobs are not that plenty as yet.

What’s the lesson we learn from the pandemic if at all? I think it is a new survival strategy, a global and high level jugad, which prioritises production and revenue over old ideas of loyalty to the company, age old employee values as obedience and sincerity and write a new script to usher in a new era. The employees after Covid are more tuned to execution and completion of task, moving on to new assignment or new territory, new jobs, the work ethics stand more on smart work and meeting quality and deadlines.

The business leaders now have to plan their strategies according to these new values. No more hiring on long term goals, we have to be always on our toes and complete projects and move on to new projects. The pandemic taught us to survive in the worst of times. Which means we learnt kung fu and can practice it to develop the more improved version. The old thought the system has to wash down the drain. The resources who fail to train themselves in the new game are going to be killed forever. New rules will emerge and new software workers will succeed in a new market driven by technology and instinct to kill. HR will be more and more about assessment of quality, tracking of output, training and development of new skills, increasing use of tools like AI and BI.  

We see the writing on the wall, but the script is entirely new, we have to adjust our reading glasses.