What if people like the new normal?

There is now a push everywhere to end the lock down arguing “let us get back to normal“.

But nobody is asking the question whether old normal was a better normal.

So what is the normal? Was commuting in packed trains a normal thing? Or getting stuck in rush hour traffic is normal? Rushing to school every morning is the normal?

There is no denying the fact that overall creativity of the population has flourished. I observed this empirically based on how many in friends and family circle started writing poems, stories, paintings, drama and much more.

All these could have been very difficult, if not impossible, during “old normal” way of working. By no means people working less productively in lock down. In fact, productivity of people have increased because people are wasting less time in office (well they cannot as they are not traveling to offices).

It is true that not all work can be done from home, but there are plenty of works which can be done remotely.

Those who are advocating loss of productivity when working remotely, are actually fearful of few things:

· Office based politics — often the perception of hard work is more important than actual metrics of the output. In a physical office, it is much easier to show off your input. This gives an extra advantage for extroverts. Whereas in lock down, introverts are in slightly better position as they can flourish their creativity (both work and personal life) without interruptions.

· Lack of team building / socialization with colleagues — yes, this is missing while WFH. But why the assumption is most people actually enjoyed it? After work socialization is often enjoyed by younger crowed in large towns (e.g. London). There are plenty of online socialization meetings happening. Though I admit not everyone enjoys online socialization. The socialization does not have to be inside offices — businesses can have occasional field day meetings if seeing people face to face is important. In a service based economy, new works often awarded based on discussion in café or golf courses during socialization — sometimes based on likeability of the supplier.

· The need for unambiguous communication — in remote working, written communication is more important than verbal communication (that is not to say verbal communication is not important). Sometimes in face to face meetings people say one thing but their body language and/or facial expression convey contrasting messages — leaving their audience struggling to figure out whether target audience were in favor or against. These people cannot hide in remote working as everyone is expected to state their opinion very clearly — often in writing. This takes away the excuse “I thought you would do in that way…” type of blame avoidance game. A large part of management roles in big corporate organization is underpinned by how messages are massaged from bottom to top by middle managers. These people do not like the abrupt dent in their way of working model due the “Work from Home” shock.

Now we must tackle the big issue — the loss of jobs. Corona virus pandemic has led to unprecedented job losses around the world and worst is yet to come. Some industry segments (like hospitality, travel etc.) are affected more than others.

Whenever a big change happens, there are usually two ways to counter it — either adapt or resist. Most people are in resist mode and argue everything should go back to old normal mode. But the winners would be who are ready to adapt and embed new normal culture.

It is understandable that it affects people differently. Middle aged people living with family in countryside are likely to enjoy commute free life more compared to single people living in small flats in town centers.

Plenty of businesses have adapted very well. Most desk based jobs are already happening remotely. Many schools have started teaching remotely. While the experience is slightly different, there is no proof that it is worse than old normal.

If in real life people work from home, why not make it mandatory for schools to also teach remote at least 1–2 days per week after life goes back to old normal?

Why people, who started to like the new normal, should be forced to go back to old normal?

One big issue of accepting new normal is the way we measure well beings. It is roughly on money also known as GDP. But GDP is detached from human well being. One can earn a lot and still be miserable. Many of the high earners recently discovered how they enjoyed being out of rat-race.

I appreciate this is a sensitive and somewhat controversial issue but Darwin said it is not the most intelligent who survives but the most adaptable who survives on the cycle of evolution.

So let us be realistic and assume that life will not fully go back to old normal and better not to force people to go back to old normal. Let us focus on rebuilding our economies and well beings by embracing the new normal.

Everyone should be given a choice of whether they want to go back to old normal or enjoy new normal (or even best of both worlds by mixing old and new normal).

All the best to humanity.