BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

Will We Go Back To Being Robots After Covid-19?

Following
This article is more than 3 years old.

There have been some beautiful byproducts of the coronavirus upheaval and our subsequent efforts to live in these uncertain, perplexing times. In my world, life got a little less crowded. There are fewer people on the sidewalks of NYC. Outdoor restaurants line the streets, and tables under the sky have multiplied, taking up what used to be parking spaces. You can actually get a seat on the subway; sometimes you get a whole subway car to yourself.

When it comes to our professional lives, the best positive impact of the coronavirus is the way it has made business less robotic and more human. The varnish of wholesale conformity that was driven by the WFO (work from office) mindset has diminished. People let their hair down (literally and figuratively). We’re seeing colleagues and clients in their relaxed attire as we peer inside their homes. We’re seeing their taste in décor and art, meeting their kids and hearing their dogs barking. We pause our video call while they answer the door to sign for a package. People are being more ... human.

Team leaders are having mental health discussions with their people. The most in-demand leadership style moved on the spectrum from results-driven to coaching and empathic. Leaders are being vulnerable and making it OK for their people to talk about feeling vulnerable too. Video meetings start with check-ins to see how everyone is doing emotionally. One-on-ones with managers have increased. Doodle’s analysis of meetings booked on its platform during Q2 of 2020 showed that virtual one-to-one meetings jumped 136%, driven by an increased demand for frequent check-ins. Employees feel comfortable venting and expressing their concerns and fears.

And those concerns and fears are immense. For many of us, Covid-19 has been a challenging or even devastating experience. Death and sickness. Restrictions on living life. Fear of illness. Financial hardship. An uncertain future. Managing family and work from the same physical space. It may be the worst crisis many people living today will face in their lifetime. And people are feeling lonely. Isolated. Lost. No one would wish for something so heinous. But here we are. It’s here and we have had no choice in the matter.

Those circumstances created a silver lining: Work has become more human. Employees are more real in the way they communicate. They’re being their unique and authentic selves at work. Coco Chanel summed it up when she said, “Hard times arouse an instinctive desire for authenticity.” As a personal branding pioneer, I have been on a mission for two decades to make the workplace more human and for professionals to shed conformity and bring their unique gifts to work—to focus on standing out authentically, not fitting in. And it’s happening. Companies are looking at their talent a little differently, giving them permission to contribute their unique ingredient to the diversity and innovation that make a company competitive.

In this new world of work, there’s less business jargon and more meaningful discussion. Less conformity and more individuality. Less facade and more face time. And although we’re wearing physical masks to reduce the spread of the virus, we’ve been given permission to remove the persona “mask” that we used to wear in order to project the expected image at work. It was part of the daily routine: scan your badge in the lobby, avoid eye contact with the security guard, and step into the corporate elevator, instantly transformed by the mask of phony professionalism. All of that has been nixed, making way for an actual face covering—one that expresses a remarkable message: I have empathy for my fellow humans.

My hope is that once a safe vaccine is approved and the threat of Covid-19 diminishes, we will continue to be wholly human at work—whether that work is done onsite at headquarters or continues to be done from a corner of your living room.

After one of our previous crises, September 11th, New Yorkers became overtly courteous and kind. They would have conversations with strangers on the street and hold the door for those who came up behind them. They would say hello to almost everyone they passed. That was a brief moment in the history of New York, and it only lasted for a few weeks following the tragedy. Over time, things went back to the way they had been on September 10th. Will the same thing happen in the next few years? Will a return to pre-pandemic health zap the humanity from the workplace?

It’s likely that WFH will still be a part of the business landscape post Covid-19. Twitter, Square and Shopify are just three of many companies that will continue the WFH policy once the pandemic is in the rear view mirror. Global Workplace Analytics estimates that 56% of the U.S. workforce holds a job that is compatible (at least partially) with remote work. They estimate that 25-30% of the workforce will be working from home multiple days a week by the end of 2021.

But if WFH endures, it doesn’t guarantee that the newfound culture of empathy and individuality will endure. Will we go back to hiding behind the veneer of “strictly business” again? If you know anything about my own personal brand, you know that I’m a lifelong optimist. And what I’ve seen over the past six months has been heartening. After all, the only thing that sets us apart from the proliferation of workplace technology (robotics, artificial intelligence, data analytics, etc.) is our humanity.

William Arruda is a founder of CareerBlast and co-creator of BrandBoost - a video-based personal branding talent development experience.

Follow me on LinkedInCheck out my website