What good could ever come from a pandemic?
Maybe you are a little perplexed that someone could have the audacity to come up with a heading that implies that something good ever came with the Covid 19 menace. What with the economic depression, uncertainty of tomorrow, breaking down of systems and job losses that came with this wave.
Well, there are two sides to every coin. And Covid 19 is just another of those coins. It has its share of bad things, yes, but there is still a silver lining that we could see in it. Lets explore this.
Better personal hygiene
There are waterpoints and washing areas everywhere you go. People are not shaking hands anymore and while this might seem a little bit abnormal for people who are used to the handshake and what it stands for, lets face it. It was causing lots of infections passing around, right? Most clinics will report that they have seen less and less cases of the common flu or stomach upsets. But why?
Well, because people are washing their hands more and not shaking them with anyone. That is a plus if you ask me.
Respect to personal distance
We do hope that by the end of the pandemic, people will have learnt a lesson in respecting personal distances, right? Well, at the moment, we are all doing it because of the pandemic but with time, this should become a norm. We want as few cases of sexual harassment or people feeling that others are intruding into their private spaces as much as possible.
Working from home and hitting a better work life balance
As more organizations embrace the work from home culture, employees are able to connect more with their families, spend time together exercising, doing homework and just knowing how everyone is faring with their lives. Families are calling each other more as they want to know whether their relatives have been struck by the Covid menace. This was not there before when everyone seemed too preoccupied with their work that they would not give a hoot to what others are going through in their lives.
Education has become more affordable
With the digitization of education, it has become more affordable to earn a diploma or certificate even in the most prestigious of education institutions. Heck, most universities have even made access to some of their courses free of charge. All you will need is good internet and patience to go through the course to earn your papers.
More international collaboration
When the Covid pandemic hit the world, all governments knew that were their people to survive, the governments would just have to collaborate with each other or face extinction. Vaccine companies also had to come together to work on a vaccine that would protect the whole world.
Humanity has at last won the battle.
This is a very good lesson that every leader has to learn. That to survive through hard times, people have to come together, forget their background and diversity and just work as one.
Less business travel
As they expand, businesses will have their workers traveling from one place to the other. According to Hugo Martin of Los Angeles times, this is a big contributor to stress among workers. They would want travel with as little stress as possible but this is not always the case. There will be lost luggage, poor internet connectivity or just some troublesome passengers in the travel mode you are using and this could lead to a great deal of stress for you.
In his article, Hugo advises that businesses need to invest lots of money into how their workers are traveling. While it might seem money saving when you have your workers travel economy class, this could lead to a reduction in the productivity as well as lots of lost time due to delays in the travel. You also do not want to have your workers arriving at their destination feeling unmotivated and sluggish, do you?
Well, with the Covid pandemic, people do not have to travel but could have teleconferences using Zoom, microsoft teams or Google Meets. This has not only saved companies lots of money but also relieved travel stress from workers.
Businesses are going digital
Today, you do not have to operate from a brick and mortar store kind of business. No, think digital and things will be good to go. All you will need is sophisticated technology to drive you and you will be good to go.
Customers also do not have to worry about appearing physically on stores to get what they want. They can order online and have their products delivered right at their doorsteps. They might however have to depend on sophisticated postal tracking services such as Sendungsverfolgung in Germany that ensures that your package arrives safely at your destination.
Less pollution on the environment
As people retreated home from their workplaces, researchers at the American Geophysical Union reported that there was more pure air in the cities since there was less car gas fumes. At the same time, water became purer as most factories just had to close down so they were not releasing their untreated liquid waste into rivers. So, while the world closed down, the environment flourished.