The Shape of Things to Come: Three Predictions
Hmmm, what will life look like when we wake up after the pandemic?
I confess I am tired ofwriting about the pandemic. I have no doubt you are equally tired of readingabout it. However, given the Stay at Homeconditions under which we are living, there is little else to talk about. Inthe interests of a different spin on the subject, I am contemplating the shapeof things to come.
You may well ask if I amqualified to prognosticate on this front. Probably not, but no one really isdespite the many so called experts who claim to be. So I will bravely forgeahead with three shape of things to comepredictions.
HEFTY INCOME TAX INCREASES
Please do not shoot the messenger. I am just stating the obvious. All the emergency benefit and subsidy programs in place mean governments are spending money they do not have and doing so like a drunken sailor. The programs are well-intentioned and necessary. But eventually we will have to pay the piper.
Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their businesses or jobs. Unfortunately, some of them will not fully recover. Those of us fortunate enough to still be working will have to bear the brunt of paying down the mountain of debt.
HOMEIS WHERE THE WORK IS
Those of us in white collar jobs have been working at home for ten months. Companies have realized that they no longer need to pay for a roof, walls, heat and electricity. In the spirit of doing more with less, many companies will cancel their leases or sell their buildings.
The meaning of work life balance is changing. It no longer refers to what time you shut down your laptop and head home. It is now when you make the ten foot commute from your work area to your living area. Home is where the heart is will give way to home is where the work is.
EMAILRULES AND PROTOCOLS
On a busy work day, I can confidently say I get 100+ e-mails. They arrive faster than I can read and respond to them and eat up large chunks of my time. There are days when I do little else. So I predict that companies will be compelled to develop e-mail rules and protocols.
These protocols willinclude when an e-mail is and is not permissible, how many cc’s are allowed fora single e-mail and even how many e-mails a person will be permitted to send inone day. Programmers will build in controls that cut off a person’s ability tosend e-mails when a specified number is reached in a single day.
The prevailing term inuse at present for the change that is coming is the new normal. I dislike that term for a variety of reasons not atthe least of which is that it is already a cliché.
It seems more accurate to say we will soon be awakening from the dream of reality to discover that the future is not what we hoped it would be. Buckle up: It is going to be a rough ride.
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~ Michael Robert Dyet is also theauthor of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which was adouble winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s websiteat www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog .
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