With the experience of coronavirus COVID 19 lockdowns work-life will change forever. With 91% US kids at home parents are spending more time than ever with children. Some parents have jobs that allow digital work and these folks are so lucky. Then there are the struggling 25 million unemployed in the travel, tourism, retail and any type of jobs that require a physical presence. At the other end of essential workers are the beleaguered medical worker, true heros, who show up every day to work. No less valiant are factory workers, grocery retail workers, law enforcement folks who are keeping essential services working. For everyone in each of these situations the pandemic has been trying as the USA tries to reopen. Going forward here is how work life will change:
- Residential real estate and families will be more important: For those who enjoy a lifestyle where most time is at work or out of home leisure – homes were just a “place to sleep” . For these folks “stay at home” has been particularly trying. In urban settings living quarters are cramped, and it’s hard to stay indoors. Moving forward there should be an uptick in residential real estate as folks realize that the next pandemic should place them in better situation. Also there should be an increase in renovations and upgrades and the associated industries. But perhaps the lockdown has had the greatest impact on the bonds within families. Never before have parents and kids spent so much time together. The situation has been stressful but unexpectedly joyous!
- Work from home and digitization will increase: Wherever possible, all types of organizations will encourage work from home. People realize that if you can eliminate “set-up” time for face to face meetings then you can really enjoy very productive meetings. The “set-up” time is your drive time, stuck in traffic time, waiting for the person you went to meet time etc. However, the face-to-face meeting will assume new significance. People will try and meet face-to-face to allow continuity in their interactions.
- Share your screen and share what exactly you are going through: A big advantage of video (eg. Zoom meetings) are that you can share your screen. For teaching and learning it’s just incredible. For those of our readers who have used Facebook Marketing support -you know why the ability of sharing your screen is so incredible. The starting point becomes the experience and understanding of the customer. Above is a fun example of a home services company who is trying to understand the customer’s problem. Perhaps some “paid” telemedicine in plumbing could be a revenue source.
- Leisure will become purer: Although travel and tourism is in a tough spot right now – things should turn around soon. Cruise lines are taking bookings for August 2020. In fact Carnival Cruises are reporting a 600% increase in booking for August 2020.
- Take out restaurant food will boom: As a market segment take out food will increase a great deal. Restaurants who are trying to stay in business during the pandemic have innovated a lot. Innovations include meal configuration that move well in take-out containers and touch-less curbside pick up. The delivery piece should also be a growing opportunity that Uber is trying to grab with the $6 Billion acquisition of GrubHub. The large 20-30% commissions of order by app folks is a matter of concern for restaurant owners. Perhaps for self pickup Uber could charge a much lower commission
The need of the hour is to re-open safely and prudently. Local,State and Federal leaders have to balance “lives and livelihoods”.