Working through technological gadgets is not new. But the onset of Covid-19 has made online working an indispensable activity. The sheer quantum of online working is mind boggling. From primary school students to paper delivery boys, online work is a norm now. With the lockdown in most parts of the world, employers have been pushed to keep their employees in tab with their work. One, if the employees are left without work for many weeks, they will be totally out of focus when they join back their jobs. Two, employers cannot pay salaries without income for a longer periods. Three, relationship between employers and employees will be cold stored. Keeping these issues in mind, employers have started using various online means to bring their employees to work mindset in this horrible Corona Virus times.
Online work was a big fashion in the Western world decades back. But a massive under productive employees and asocial companies, online working was either slashed dramatically or abandoned. An advertisement by 99acres.com captures this situation beautifully. An employee was doing real estate brokerage telling his employers that he is working from home. Even employees feel that working from home is not good for many reasons. Family and social duties disturb their professional performances during their work from home. For a better work output, office ambience is important. With home settings, it is not easy to be a professional
The online work difficulty has class and gender angles. Upper class people may not have a big problem in delivering online performances. Separate space and no household chores can be the biggest booster shots. For middle class especially women it is extremely difficult to engage in online work. This gets complicated in this Covid-19 period. With children, husband, elders and no maid at home, middle class women have toughest times. They have to manage online work and household duties simultaneously. This devastates middle class women physically and mentally. No wonder middle class women office goers are asking for reopening of work places. For the lower strata women, without income life is totally shattered. Feeding the family 3 times a day is a big challenge. They are always offline.
Business people are organizing “Zoom Meets” to learn entrepreneurial traits from successful entrepreneurs. Google classrooms, Hangouts, Duo meets, whatsapp video discussions, webinars, Facebook Alive, Drive Documenting---, the online world today is hyperactive. In order to escape from Corona Virus, people are online more and more. The biggest worry is about the health consequences of heavy time spending online.
Senior citizens are organizing their get-togethers online. Youth are partying online. Weddings are conducted online. Housewarmings are done online. In short, birth to death ceremonies are online now. It has given a new direction to the world. No traffic, no pollution, no commotion but emotions are in full flow. Mass deaths around the world are shattering the emotions of the people. Money, power, positions and everything is suddenly flying in the air. Only human feelings matter. Online world must embrace karuna in this devastating age of corona virus. Creating fake news, spreading communal hatred and demoralizing government machinery must stop. The online world has to be all the more responsible in this Covid-19 times.
No comments:
Post a Comment