Unlocking New Horizons: Embracing Opportunities Beyond Lockdown
Instead of Looking Down at Lockdown…. Look Beyond! – While our routine hectic life was on, we all were complaining of lack of leisure time, quality time with family, being at work, traffic,… and so on. And now with the lockdown, we seem to be complaining about more work in the house, spending time only with family… what does this mean? Anything that is forced upon us, that which is not out of our free will, we tend to dislike it. Even if it means actually getting the opportunity to do what we always wanted to do.
Something to ponder – it’s not always work that is the actual problem – it might be the lack of freedom to do the work that we want to do and the way we want to do. But somehow we always ended up finding faults in our work life. This created a lot of frustration and dissatisfaction for many or rather most of the working population.
To fend for the family, responsibility, to take off our expenses, societal pressure – these and many reasons such as these have led to taking up jobs which they don’t like doing and dragged on for many years. And today, with the labor market and business going down, the same people are trying to desperately save their jobs. Many businesses are going to be affected which in turn is going to drastically impact many households.
On one hand, we have anxiety of when will this lockdown be over, and on the other hand, we are worried about how are we going to face the challenges of a changed workplace.
People are seeking answers to questions like – Will my job exist? Will I be able to keep my job? Will my industry or company be able to survive this massive impact? Will get my next month’s salary? Will I be facing more targets and deadlines? Will I be able to cope with the raised bar of performance and achievement? Questions or rather worries like these have started creeping into the minds of people.
The questions are obvious, but the answers are not. The answers will vary from person to person, from industry to industry, and from company to company. The cloud of uncertainty is not only on the employees but also on the employers.
At the risk of being called inhuman, many employers will need to make tough decisions to survive. Laying off employees [maybe the good ones], reducing salaries, expecting teams to work harder and more, pushing the targets, being very competitive, and trying the captain the ship in turbulent times – are some of the issues of the other side. These aspects cannot be ignored.
There are no solutions right now, nor are there any neither formulae nor quick-fix remedies. Only time will tell how we all face this crisis. The most we all can do to save as much as we can in this situation is to accept that we all are in this together. We need to match our energies and efforts, be solution-oriented, and see how our industry/business can innovate in order to sail through, work, and understand each other’s situation. Employers need to build in the faith and the vision and the employees will have to be a part of this vision and believe in their leaders.
Patience, perseverance, and consistent efforts will be vital. We need to use our free will to work for the betterment –of others and ourselves too. It’s also time to rethink our priorities, lifestyle, and potential. Though currently ‘being positive’ is a dreaded word, we need to be really positive in outlook post this crisis.
Till then, have faith, think ahead, improve yourself, and don’t look at the lockdown, instead look beyond and look up for the best!!
