Jobs have changed from how they were pre-pandemic and these changes may be here to stay depending on the lasting effects of COVID-19. As a result, both employees and employers need to find ways to adjust to the new normal. To start, let's take a look at some of the impacts:
1. Labor Shortage
The most pressing problem for most industries is finding employees. Owners struggle to hire back staff they recently let go of when they were forced to shut down at the beginning of the pandemic. This is especially true for low-paying, customer facing jobs such as restaurants, retail as well as services such as day care and senior care.
There are many reasons former employees aren't jumping to get back to their old jobs. Unemployment benefits are often similar to the amount they'd make if they went back to work. Some are still concerned about COVID variants popping up and don't think working is worth the risk. Others need to take care of children at home. Still others have grown to love the work from home lifestyle and decide to change jobs or even careers.
2. Remote Work
During the pandemic, many companies found a way to convert office employees into remote employees. This trend is likely to continue after the pandemic.
Many prefer working from the comfort of their home to a daily commute. Workers also save money on travel expense, lunches and even dry cleaning.
Most white collar professionals transition easily into remote work, especially digital work such as programming, graphic design, and research. Even senior executives are considering remote C-level executive job opportunities more seriously and getting remote executive job offers they would not have before.
3. Caregiver Shortage
In-home caregivers have to travel to their client's home to provide service. In the early days of the pandemic, some clients may have cancelled services, or reduce hours for fear of catching the disease from the caregiver. But now the demand for home care services has increased substantially, but home care agencies struggle to find people willing to step in to fill the number of available CNA and HHA jobs.
4. School Closings and Child Care
During the pandemic, schools and even colleges have been ordered to shut down. As a result, many parents, who are working from home, have to teach and manage their children at home as well. This is challenging and as a result, some people opt to resign from their jobs to care for their kids. On the other hand, teachers have moved to teaching online, while some day care workers may have lost their jobs due to the reduced need for day care. Although most schools and colleges have reopened, there is still a good chance that new COVID variants may cause even havoc for schools to close again.
5. Reduced Business Travel
Travel restrictions combined with people not wanting to travel contribute to the lack of business travel. There are great seasonal activities to do in Boston like viewing the beautiful fall foliage, but like many other cities, tourism has suffered during the pandemic. This negatively impacts local businesses and jobs.
The world is adapting to Covid-19. There are many ways that jobs will change in the foreseeable future, and businesses need to prepare for them or get left behind.
