What ongoing issues can we expect due to the Global pandemic?

With the future looking bright with the hope that everything will be back to “normal” by the 21^st of June. However, we as a nation need to understand that not everything will be the same. We need to make sure we don’t make any mistakes, specifically in terms of safety in and out of the workplace. The 30^th of March marked the second day in London with zero Coronavirus deaths, which is an outstanding achievement for our country. Moving forward we all need to be prepared for change, to ensure we don’t lose this progress and how far we have come.

The Workplace

Although lockdown restrictions are gradually being relaxed, we can still expect to see companies and workplaces maintaining social distancing measures in the future. If anything, this pandemic has shown the world that certain jobs can be done from home, so we expect to see a few people continue working from home during the near future.

Not only will the workplace be affected by the pandemic the actual work hours might also change. Countries such as Spain are already starting to trail 4 day work weeks (Time, 2021), after witnessing the success and boost to productivity this change has brought to Microsoft in Japan and the U.S. burger chain Shake Shack.

The Economy

The economy around the globe has all been hit hard by the pandemic. A fiscal monitor study done in 2020 showed that all around the world there has been major drops deficit with the U.S budget going down to -18.7% and the UK coming in second with -16.5%. In the long run, countries will have to seek new ways of trying to reduce this number as much as possible which could lead to a possible increase in taxes.

(Source, Bloomberg, March 2021)

The Environment

We have discussed some of the changes that the coronavirus has caused in our previous blog but it’s important to discuss this matter again. Massive corporations around the world are looking to make all their products and services they offer as sustainable and eco-friendly as they can; from sustainable clothing to eco-friendly options of transportation all these factors are sure to change as we now have a chance to heal the planet.

The Supply Chain

Source (Supply Management, 2020)

In terms of the supply chain, all countries have suffered major losses due to rushing to try and find new ways of allowing the transportation of goods from country to country. With many companies now chasing after the lowest cost per unit goods. Therefore, many companies seek new products from countries such as China with lower labor rates and materials, but mainly a lower overall cost. Coronavirus has had such a massive impact on the economy of businesses and countries leading companies to seek cheaper alternatives. Supply chain management will now have to pay more attention to the agility of it’s processes. Due to the need for this speed and agility the likely hood of further robotics being involved in the distribution process is likely and something that will soon be emerging internationally.