We live in a world full of intrigues, highs and lows, uncertainties, natural disasters, plagues, and many more mishaps and disasters. It is also often said that “tough times never last, but tough people do,” therefore; to an extent, human being is created with natural survival instincts to help us manoeuvre out of difficult times.
In recent times, the world has been plagued with a pandemic occasioned by the Corona Virus otherwise called COVID-19. This virus declared a pandemic by WHO on 11th March, 2020, originated out of Wuhan in China, has practically crippled industries, nations (inclusive of super powers) and citizens around the globe. Subsequently, many governments around the world have issued a “stay-at-home” order among many other cautions, to curb the spread of the virus. Thus, businesses, industries, governments and country borders have been shut down for weeks if not months.
As Career Clinic column, we feel it may be good to attempt to review and advise on how employees may survive in these uncertain times should employees stop work during this season? How long will this be for? Will one get paid for the duration of the shut down? What happens if one employer can no longer pay salary? What happens if any member of one family falls ill? Does the employee possess a medical insurance cover? How will one support his aged parents, if any? How will one pay bills (including rent, mortgage, phone subscription, cable, and other utility bills)? The questions are real, many and endless and on the mind of every working individual (self-employed or otherwise). We would attempt to provide some suggestions to guide working class citizens in this trying time.
If an employee is fortunate enough to have the type of job that enables him or her work from home, and get paid; all one needs will be a work station from home. This will consist primarily of a laptop/desktop computer, chair/desk, working phone and stable electricity supply. On the other hand, if the employee work in a firm that is unable to survive the lockdown period, he/she will need to resort to savings (if any) and/or financial assistance from family and friends.
Further, one need to ponder on what happens after such a difficult period, such as a pandemic, epidemic or shut-down of major economic activities? How will work life be affected? Is there any work to go back to? These and many other questions would agitate the mind of every worker in a circumstance such as what we are currently experiencing under COVID-19 pandemic challenges.
Opportunities
Often time’s crisis period comes up with opportunities. It takes a careful review, study and analysis of the situation so as to see the opportunities. COVID-19 crisis and its attendant challenges are no exception.
The good news is that this sort of period as stated earlier will open up opportunities in the causative factor, and its attendant spill-over effects. What do I mean by that? For instance, the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic will open up a multitude of opportunities to cover Research and Development on COVID-19, relevant vaccines, drugs, testing kits, ventilators, etc. Mass production of medical equipment and other supplies such as gloves, surgical masks, hazmat suits; development of specialized financial products for project funding across the globe; training of specialists in infectious diseases, to mention but a few windows of businesses. Other opportunities that may come, may include research into alternative medicine therapy for the virus; various collaborations to fund all the research and development work by various governments, bi / multi-lateral agencies, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), foundations and private donors. The above represents opportunities valued at billions of dollars. As these would require human input, a lot of industries and businesses would be set up to key into these opportunities. Companies already in these lines of businesses would scale up or expand their products offering, as the case may be. Consequently, job opportunities will become available to proactive and visionary individuals, in these sectors. What employees need to do in order that they may benefit from these windows is to sharpen their skills and competences and where necessary quickly acquire new skills and adapt to the new world order.
Pay-cuts, right sizing
In general, there are certain organisations that may have the strength to weather the storm and survive post occurrence of a natural or manmade disaster. Such organisation could develop and adopt survival strategies such as cost-cutting, staff rationalization etc. Certain categories of staff may also have specialised skills and thus may have to be retained compulsorily. In such situations, employees may be required to make some sacrifices such as no pay at all or leave without pay or better still salary reduction.
For those that had jobs before the pandemic (or any circumstance that leads to a lull in the economy), and still retained their jobs after, they are the very lucky ones. It is possible that their employers may ask them to take pay-cuts to enable the organization get back on its feet or return to profitability.
Some companies (offering essential services) that worked through the period with limited staff may decide to retain the staff to gather more strength to enable them stabilise, and resume hiring at a future date (or when necessary).
Job losses
The consequences of the crisis and or natural disasters such as COVID-19 pandemic can be enormous and wide. Health, social services, finance, economy, security etc could all be affected in one way or another with varying degree of Impact Businesses could face close permanently or at best a shrinkage in the size of operation. Financial losses could be reported and economic recession could happen.
There may also be a lot of job losses, as it can take some time for organizations to recover, after a period of non-productivity. Thus, individuals who lose their jobs will need to look for new ones. This may include accepting job offers for which they are over qualified and under paid, as there may be few jobs. This can be a very traumatic experience, but the focus should be on paying one’s bills and using any of such jobs as stepping stones to the ultimate job the individual seeks. In addition, these “stepping stone” jobs also present an opportunity to acquire experience in the new area, which could ultimately lead to success in that field, if one puts in his best and develops necessary skills.
For some others, there may be extreme difficulty in securing jobs. These categories of individuals are advised not to remain idle, but continuously look for ways to acquire new skills, that can be mastered and set up businesses. Some of these businesses may include catering, event planning, hairstyling, etc.
We shall conclude this discussion by next week with suggestions on how to avoid being frustrated and or depression.
“My Lord! Enrich me with knowledge…” (Quran 20:114)
For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding (Proverbs 2:6)
