2020 will be remembered as the “Year of Coronavirus”. While this has been a year of mostly disappointments, lets try to take out some positives that came out of this year. I am listing few of them below. Please feel free to add your thoughts in the comments.
1. WFH is possible – Not only that, it’s actually better.
Work from Home is the new normal and it’s here to stay. According to Stanford University, around 40% of US population is working from home now. The stigma associated with work from home in the pre-Covid world has completely disappeared. I still remember the days when managers used to take case by case decisions on employee’s request to work by home and granting those requests to employees was no less than a favor in the managers’ eyes. Compare it with now. Several top companies including Facebook, LinkedIn, Amazon have allowed their workers to continue working from home well into 2020.
Not only that, multiple studies have shown that WFH has actually increased the productivity of several employees. A California based company reported a 47% increase in productivity of its employees while working remotely. In a survey conducted by another California based company showed that 77% of the people working remotely claim to work more productively. Another survey by Airtasker indicated that 37% of remote workers stay productive by taking regular breaks. An overwhelming 80% of the telecommuters experienced less work-related stress in a poll conducted by Amerisleep. These findings are not surprising. A study conducted by Owl Labs have showed that US companies that allow remote working have a 25% lower employee turnover rate. Taking a cue from this data, 25% of respondent companies have promised that they will move 10% of their employees to permanent remote positions post-COVID 19, a report by Statista has shown. And employees are not complaining either! According to a survey conducted by Bugger, 99% of the remote workers would like to continue doing so to some extent even when the pandemic eases out.
2. We are more connected that we ever thought even with travelling less
The travel and tourism industry are devastated by COVID-19. Some studies suggest that tourism industry has been pegged back by almost a trillion dollars. At the beginning of 2020, it was close to 1,478 bn. Now it is hovering around 300 billion mark and almost 100 million jobs have been lost. Many of us can count on our fingers the number of flights that we took in 2020.
However, in spite of all this, people are more connected to their families, peers, friends and others in more ways than ever. In the list released by Apple for its most download Apps and games, Zoom topped the list. In April 2020, Zoom reported 300 million daily meetings. The corresponding number was 10 million in December 2019. WhatsApp global users spiked by 51% during this pandemic. During earnings call in October 2020, Microsoft revealed that Microsoft Teams has 115 million daily active users. That’s more than 50% rise from the 75 million that Microsoft had reported six months ago.
3. There is life beyond big cities
90% of the Coronavirus cases were recorded in Urban areas. People recognized this and they started moving out of city centers in droves. Those who fled the big cities, did not stop at the periphery and moved to suburbs or smaller settlements. In a May report by British property firm Savills, 71 percent of younger UK homebuyers said outdoor space and rural locations had become more important to them since COVID-19. According to USPS data, 15.9 million people filed address change requests from Feb 2020 – July 2020. Even before COVID 2,600 people a week were leaving New York City. The number is more than 5,000 a week now. Many of the people who are leaving large cities are never expected to come back. Smaller and cleaner cities are gaining. During March-October 2020 the average sold price of a house in South Lake Tahoe was $711,469. The corresponding number was $617, 326. The same trend can be seen in the availability front too. In July 2019, 349 houses were listed for sale in South Lake Tahoe. In July 2020, the number fell to 298.
4. Technological supremacy does not necessarily guaranteed leadership
America is by far the most technologically advanced country with full of super sharp minded people. I myself had the privilege of interacting with many of them during my business discussion during last many years. Yet, till writing this article, America has reported around 19.5 million cases with more than 330K people dead. Contrast it with New Zealand with only 2,151 cases and 25 deaths. Taiwan reported 793 cases with 7 deaths. Vietnam reported 1,451 cases with 35 deaths. Even India with 4 times the population of USA reported less than half number of deaths as compared with deaths in USA.
This has important learnings for all of us. Technology is just one of the tools to execute a plan. Other factors such as timely decision making, stakeholder engagement, communication, leadership and many other factors play a decisive role in successful execution of any plan. It applies to our projects, our new ideas, our professional success and in fact everything that we do in our lives. Technological supremacy alone will never guarantee you overall success.
5. It’s all about US
The biggest learning of this whole pandemic is that what matters most in the end is US – Our health, our lives, our families, our work-life balance, our continuous learning and everything else that makes us truly happy. Many of us learnt it the hard way by losing somebody to this virus or coming very close to it.
According to a report by World Economic Forum, download of health and fitness apps grew by 46% worldwide. India saw the highest increase in downloads, rising by 156%. That translates to 58 million new active users – almost the entire population of Italy. Coursera, a leading provider of online courses, CEO has predicted that the company will have around 30 million users signing up in 2020 alone. Not surprising that the company’s top course in 2020 globally is “The Science of Well-Being”. This pandemic has forced all of us to think about ourselves first. A study of google searches in 2020 has revealed that people are turning their attention towards more traditional hobbies. Sewing, crocheting and online courses are seeing more than twice as many search queries and interest in online courses is up 92%. Many people have found their childhood back. The average time spent by parents with their kids in this pandemic has substantially increased.
While we enter into 2021 with mixed feelings and hope, I do believe that some of these learnings that 2020 gave us will remain with us for a long time to come. I am sure all of us would have learnt different lessons in 2020. Please feel free to share your thoughts.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are purely of Author. Author’s current or any of his previous organizations has nothing to do with the ideas expressed here.
