Adopting COVID Workplace Practices Post-Pandemic
Remote learning and working techniques which were galvanized by necessity due to COVID-19 have altered the way of work and learning. The ingenuity of these swiftly proliferating self-improvement techniques of mass organization and distribution of information, while impressive, may not be beneficial when incorporated into everyday life.
New uses of technology like massive Zoom meetings, recorded digital meetings, as well as digital testing and interviews have been impressive at mitigating the effects of an unexpected situation and maintained workplaces’, schools’, and societies’ operational capabilities. These practices have been so successful that some are set to permanently integrate the workplace and educational institutions after the peak of the pandemic.1,2 On the surface, distance working and learning practices seem to have crucial benefits and increase labor effectiveness—why commute to a meeting when one can simply attend from the ease of a screen? Why attend live university lectures when one can have a rewindable recording of the information? However, these superficial efficiencies may not translate into true quality of work.
While it is generally accepted that working and learning from home is ultimately not advantageous for both mental and physical health, the practices they use may also be detrimental at their ostensible benefits to work and education.
Firstly, speed and apparent elimination of unnecessary time may, in fact, contribute to lower overall efficiency and more wasted time. For instance, the use of recorded meetings or informational videos may actually lead to lower productivity and quality of work. The rewindable nature of recordings may overwhelm one with unnecessary and difficult to manage information whereas live, in-person meetings would facilitate greater comprehension and efficient use of time. Analogical to this is the rise of digital note-taking in school and in the workplace. Studies show that handwritten note-taking increase comprehension and retention of information because its very slowness forces deliberate synthesis of information and leaves a deeper impression in one’s long-term memory.3
Parkinson’s Law states that any task, even if it should take an hour to finish, can take up the space of a day if it is permitted.4 According to this law, the use of rewindable digital recordings and flexible schedules due to the inability to monitor a person’s work from home may dramatically decrease efficiency. For example, comprehension that must normally be completed in a live lecture may take hours for students learning from home. Extra hours may be consumed memorizing unnecessary information no longer naturally filtered by time pressure.
When working from a screen or attending a digital meeting, many may be tempted not only to idle about on the computer screen, but also to attempt to multi-task whilst tending to the task at hand. This may decrease the quality of all the tasks they are attempting.
These are only a few of the many potential effects of a long-term transition into this new way of work and life. The new practices that have emerged from coping with COVID-19 have been remarkable in satisfying the increased unforeseen needs. Going forward, the potential outcomes of the mass, long-term adoption of these techniques should be carefully evaluated and tested before they are applied to the workforce and children’s education.
Citations:
Baker, Mary. “9 Future of Work Trends Post-Covid-19.” Gartner. Gartner, April 29, 2021. https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/9-future-of-work-trends-post-covid-19.
Kostovska, Branka. “Remote Learning: Lessons From Covid-19 and the Way Forward.” EU Science Hub - European Commission. Europa Analytics, March 15, 2021. https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/news/remote-learning-lessons-covid-19-and-way-forward.
Weng, Tiffanie. “The 'Law' That Explains Why You Can't Get Anything Done.” BBC Worklife. BBC, May 22, 2020. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20191107-the-law-that-explains-why-you-cant-get-anything-done.
Doubek, James. “Attention, Students: Put Your Laptops Away.” NPR. NPR, April 17, 2016. https://choice.npr.org/index.html?origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2F2016%2F04%2F17%2F474525392%2Fattention-students-put-your-laptops-away.