It is undeniable that the global pandemic affected businesses worldwide. With the need for new, stricter health regulations in the workplace for a safer internal environment in the office come limitations on the number of persons of staff present. Furthermore, there is an added cost of maintaining the areas clean and up to the new health regulations, as well as the expectation for some employees to have to self-isolate or quarantine. On the customer relations side, there is a newly arisen need for safety measures aimed at attracting customers and providing them with the best levels of service. Moreover, there is a risk of productivity loss due to the employers’ inability to monitor the employees working remotely. Nevertheless, there are upsides to the new business structures, when the issues are addressed properly.
Firstly, it is vital to evaluate the current situation in the company and the changes that it has experienced in the years of the pandemic. Having concrete evidence of certain policies working or not working is essential for the future planning. It is absolutely necessary to adjust for the changing global environment but, additionally, to create inclusive and non-discriminatory policies. The pandemic has affected different groups to a different extent, according to CDC (“Health Equity Considerations and Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups.,” 2021). It is therefore likely that members of certain socio-economic background will require extra accommodation at work.
Secondly, it is necessary to focus on the potential benefits of the post-pandemic businesses. For example, according to research, there has been various positive impact of the pandemic, monetary and otherwise, reported by companies (Boiral, Brotherton, Rivaud, L. & Guillaumie, 2021). It might be useful to take the companies that have profited from the pandemic, such as Amazon (Boiral, Brotherton, Rivaud, L. & Guillaumie, 2021), as an example. Mostly, they show the need for both digitization of the business operations and the implementation or development of the at-home and delivery style services. Although the challenges of the post-pandemic business are plenty, with sufficient planning they can be overcome.
References
Boiral, O., Brotherton, M. C., Rivaud, L. & Guillaumie, L. (2021). Organizations’ Management of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review of Business Articles. Sustainability, 13(3993), 1-20.
Health Equity Considerations and Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups. (2021). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.