The times have changed, but traditional ssengas and marriage counsellors have remained old school which now threatens to kill careers and businesses. #covid19 has helped fast track the world in technology adoption by a year or two by promoting mobile penetration, internet penetration, and adoption of digital channels in service delivery.
Online studies, virtual meetings, and home working / remote working have suddenly spiked. Top events organized by membership bodies like the annual anti-fraud conference shall this year be held virtually. And the fees for the conference have not changed. This means hotels shall lose money, but teleconferencing technology companies, data companies like telecoms and online advertising companies stand to make a killing out of this new development.
The digital economy is here.
All top technology companies are now investing in remote working tools. Microsoft has already upgraded Skype to offer premium features for free as offered by Zoom. However, since Zoom has an early entrant advantage, it is smiling to the bank. As they say, great companies fail through aggressive marketing, they succeed through being innovators by introducing the best product the market wants. And zoom has done that.
Technology hates culture and tradition.
In this era where cities have been locked down and people encouraged to work from home, challenges are emerging. There is a conflict between ‘home’ values and the new realities of the business.
Marriage counselors and other traditionalists like Church groups advise that the key to a happy marriage is to keep the phone away while at home. Some women therefore never pick office calls while at home. To them, such a practice gives them rest and focus on their family.
But covid19 is saying do not have a work-life balance or separate your home from your work. It is saying practice work-life integration. Integrate your family life in your working life. This is a new reality. Only fools can fight realities. Brilliant people embrace it. So, how do you help a traditional worker to wake up to new realities to integrate her home life with work-life? An employee who fails to embrace work-life integration by keeping their phone on 24/7 while at home including even on weekends stands a risk of losing their jobs.
To be continued…
Copyright Mustapha B Mugisa, 2020. All rights reserved.
