Employment — Now Out of the Storm
By Group 8: Melissa Naves Tannus, Ryan Morris, Ayushi Srivastava, Olivia Shan, Marguerite Knowlton
Coming out of a year of devastation and economic hardship for many, we look towards the positives that are emerging for working class citizens.
2020 will go down as one of the darkest years of our recent memory. The primary culprit for the chaos and tragedy we had to endure last year was COVID 19. It killed close to 4 million people worldwide and inflicted serious damages on the global economy. Many people could not even say goodbye to their loved ones who died alone in nursing homes and hospitals. It broke society, dividing people through social distancing and forcing everyone to seek safety behind masks. Children’s education also took a drastic hit with school closures, and some children have grown up in a world devastated by a pandemic. Many people lost their life savings in small business closedowns while global mega corporations like Amazon got even richer. However, even through this time of unspeakable darkness, we can find few shining lights. One of these positive outcomes of COVID was that it helped people to get time off work and reconfigure and reevaluate their lives, presenting them with an opportunity to break the cycle and find new horizons. It also led employers to be flexible with working conditions and emphasize the health and safety of their employees.
One of the rare advantages of COVID was that many workers who were burdened with the hardship of daily work got the opportunity to stay home and reconfigure their lives. Many people were laid off from jobs that they have been stuck working for for many years. Stores started closing up and many lost jobs and are not able to find new jobs. Some people could find Covid advantageous because getting laid off from jobs they are previously working for has given them the chance to find out what they are truly passionate about. Particularly the people who were doing difficult or boring jobs for minimum wage can see the covid break as an opportunity to take a break and improve their skills. Also because the government of Canada provided them financial assistance with the CERB, these workers had the financial support to spend their time on what they truly love. Also, being able to spend time with their families could be seen as an added benefit here. Furthermore, the CERB could be seen as a trial of a universal basic income (UBI) where people got money without having to be exploited by employers. We can see that this provided the opportunity for many minimum wage workers doing hard and thankless jobs like restaurant workers to demand higher wages to come back. As such, we can say that COVID pandemic ironically empowered workers and showed the world that an UBI concept could work. And some people have found what they are truly passionate about from getting a new job. Therefore, Covid has given them the chance to try a new job and career.
The other main advantage of COVID for workers is that it presents the opportunity to reconfigure how we work. The whole situation forced employers to prioritize the well being of the employees as well as making work more flexible through options like working from home. Many people started to work from home and sometimes at their convenience, showcasing new ways people can be productive without being at the traditional office settings. Employers can take this opportunity to give employees more control and hope they can trust them to manage their schedules. Also, leaders and managers may want to learn more about employees’ values, interests, strengths, and motivations. At the same time, the entire organization may accept working from home and continue to try different ways of working after the crisis is over. Essentially, COVID provides an opportunity for employers to embrace more flexibility like working from home and having virtual teams. This helps employees to spend more time with their families and friends, but also cut costs of commuting and eating out and save more money.
So it is apparent that human ingenuity can find silver linings in the darkest pages of our history. Even though COVID is deadly and disruptive, that disruptive nature has provided us an opportunity to improve the lives of workers around the world. I do not find it insulting to millions who died and billions whose lives are disrupted by this pandemic at all, as long as we can advance the agenda of the workers. Despite its drawbacks COVID-19 is a very good opportunity to reorganize work in a more flexible and employee friendly way that is more equal and equitable.
MULTIMEDIA GALLERY
Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel —
Story by Olivia Shan
Photography by Marguerite Knowlton
Audio by Ryan Morris
Infographics by Ayushi Srivastava
Video by Melissa Naves Tannus
