As governments ease on restrictions imposed to contain coronavirus, many people are now looking into adjusting policies to maximize profits. With maximizing profits, comes shaking off liability – By Gerald Gekara.
Businesses, both big and small have been greatly plagued with staggering losses, attributed to government restrictions imposed to contain coronavirus.
Non-essential businesses were closed, with the state advising citizens to stay home.
Schools were reduced to online class sessions as government curriculum development experienced a tectonic shift to drafting online content to keep pupils busy at home.
Online video call became the only way to stay in touch with co-workers and friends. Zoom became an overnight success in hosting video conference facilities.
Cutting down on non essential liability
Executives have realized the amount of work that can be done in a day, and are likely to shed off property and unnecessary travel to encourage the work-from-home policy.
For instance a financial officer will pitch a proposal to ditch two floors at a call center establishment, and opt to facilitate data bundles to its employees.
Human resources will obviously echo this sentiment and say how much happier their workers have been since the hassle of getting work, and traffic delays was eliminated.
“It will be hard to bring everyone back from home once they’ve tasted freedom from the shackles of a commute and sitting in a cubicle for eight hours each day.” She will say..
Eventually, we will overcome the coronavirus and go back to some sort of normalcy, with many opting to make structural adjustments.
Jumia, Amazon, Online shops take over retail markets
No more unnecessary travels to meet clients, no more luncheons at expensive restaurants, what does this mean?
Shopping malls, department stores, retail clothing chains, restaurants, hotels, airlines, automobile manufacturers and real estate owners will have to cut down on staff.
This is because, people have turned to buying everything on Amazon, Jumia and Kilimall. Rather than risking their health going to the supermarket, they rely on Instacart shoppers.
Video streaming facilities such as Netflix might edge out movie theaters, because why should i risk my health going to a hall with 300 strangers and one harbouring strange illness?
The agonizing Result
Industries won’t be able to afford lush salaries leading to massive cuts. After the financial crisis, many will be worse off.
Millions of displaced restaurant, hotel, airlines, music and sports events, and factory workers will be fighting each other to obtain a job.
A good number of people have lost a lot of money during the outbreak. Some lost their jobs and others lost their businesses or saw appreciable declines in revenue.
With a loss of money and jobs, we will see that young adults will move back home with their parents.
Picture the students gearing up for graduation. The likelihood of them finding suitable or any jobs is quite low. They won’t be able to afford rent and everything else they need.
The only rational answer is to return home, save whatever little money they can earn and hope that their situation can improve over time.
These perilious times call for innovation and application of an out of office mindset. Kenyans will have to comb through their communities to figure out what they can do to survive.
