Dear Manu,

I think upskilling will be important in post COVID-19 job scene. Workplaces are likely to change, and with it, the companies will require skills employee. Study shows 1 in 6 employees in world lost jobs, and the worse may be yet to come. In the long term, there could be staff cuts in the blue-collar and grey-collar, and reduced demand in the entry-level segment.

The ways companies operate and work are going to change, the world was already changing rapidly, but the pandemic accelerated it. There will be few “jobs for life.” Someone that is going to succeed in a post-corona virus-world will need to be able to adapt to ever-evolving workplaces and have the ability to continuously update and refresh their skills.

The reality is that technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, the Internet of Things(IOT), virtual and augmented reality, health medicine devices R&D, and robotics will make businesses more resilient to future pandemics, and anyone that can help companies exploit these technologies will be in a great position. Whether you work in a factory or an accounting office in a post-coronavirus world, you need to be comfortable with these tech tools as well as be able to work with them effectively.

Businesses that have been able to come up with ways to deliver services virtually (like many healthcare providers have done) or quickly shift to new products (like Mercedes F1 that have shifted from making racing cars to innovative breathing aids) have been able to better weather the storm. In a post-coronavirus world, world will need human ingenuity to invent, dream up new products and ways of working. Human creativity is going to be essential.

Professionals with data literacy will be even more appealing to prospective employers than ever before. Not all information should be trusted, but organizations will need to rely on critical thinking to understand what information should inform decision-making.

The digital transformation of organizations got a boost because of corona virus; therefore, professionals with digital skills, including coding, web development, and digital marketing, will become even more important than they are now.

Professionals with strong skills in leadership, including how to bring out the best and inspire teams as well as encourage collaboration, will be in demand.

Two uncertainties could make the job market bleaker for both the salaried as well as new job aspirants. One is if the COVID-19 graph keeps rising, across the world. While getting the labour back, clearing up the issues with raw materials, transport and supply chain is in itself worrisome; a bigger pain would be the expected dip in consumer demand. Future uncertainty might just prompt them to continue keeping their purse strings tight. That does not augur well for an economic revival, and in correlation, the employment scene.

Pandemic impact on number of employee

As job losses escalate, nearly half of global workforce at risk of losing livelihoods.The continued sharp decline in working hours globally due to the COVID-19 outbreak means that 1.6 billion workers in the informal economy – that is nearly half of the global workforce – stand in immediate danger of having their livelihoods destroyed, warns the International Labour Organization. As a result of the economic crisis created by the pandemic, almost 1.6 billion informal economy workers (representing the most vulnerable in the labour market), out of a worldwide total of two billion and a global workforce of 3.3 billion, have suffered massive damage to their capacity to earn a living. This is due to lockdown measures and/or because they work in the hardest-hit sectors. Worldwide, more than 436 million enterprises face high risks of serious disruption. These enterprises are operating in the hardest-hit economic sectors, including some 232 million in wholesale and retail, 111 million in manufacturing, 51 million in accommodation and food services, and 42 million in real estate and other business activities. This Is I foresee, for millions of workers, no income means no food, no security and no future. As the pandemic and the jobs crisis evolve, the need to protect the most vulnerable becomes even more urgent." Millions of businesses around the world are barely breathing. They have no savings or access to credit. These are the real faces of the world of work. If we don’t help them now, these enterprises will simply perish.” Urgent policy measures are needed in term of targeted and flexible measures to support workers and businesses, particularly smaller enterprises, those in the informal economy and others who are vulnerable.

Nobody knows how long corona pandemic crisis may exist. This could complicate efforts to contain the spread of the disease.

Ashish

We will have a vaccine and new, approved treatments based on millions of patients’ data. We will have new public health protocols too for how to prevent another calamity of this scale. These are for sure.

After this pandemic, you could see many types of posttraumatic disorders related to psychological problems. Besides this, people would prefer online work as compared to office based. People will also focus to do invent innovative and inexpensive research methods so that they could easily evaluate the causes and preventions of bacterial/viral associated diseases. Every country will face huge economical crisis. This pandemic will also promote digital education and other brand-new habits related to hygiene.

In the developing world, citizens will learn to save some part of their money against reckless spending. Also social distancing practice will be alive in the near future but disappear much later with the advent of a vaccine. What I am not sure of is whether leaders in the African continent will improve health care services.

Thank you all for your valuable answers.

Thank you Sirvan Abbasbeigi for your valuable answer.

This situation is likely to improve as the supply chain constraints get mitigated; however, companies will have to be prepared for large scale downtrading besides shrinkages in consumption and therefore consider its impact on their revenue.