Are we ready? COVID-19 Reopening woes and the new realities it brings

Ontario is cautiously moving ahead with plans to reopen the economy. 

Certainly, there have been snags along the way. Patrons of a park in Toronto were not social distancing. Also, a nail salon in the city of Kingston caused a spike in cases. But despite these issues, one can look to the neighbour to the South and realize that things can be much challenging. 

According to CNBC:

"Governors in Washington, California, Florida and Texas are walking back some of their reopening plans as coronavirus cases rise in more than 30 states across the U.S., according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University"

This is not surprising given the rise in COVID-19 cases with CNBC reporting an increase of "5% over the previous week in 37 states across the country". 

With that in mind, there are some lessons we can learn a few things when considering the challenges or re-opening as the pandemic continues to spread in society (without a vaccine or cure). Specifically, the Wall Street Journal reported on how the re-openings - albeit semi-temporarily - unfolded in Texas. Based on this article, they noted the following:

• Pandemic screening: Entering and exiting office buildings will not be as easy as it used to be. There will be some measures implemented to ensure that sick people don't make it into the office. For example, buildings will check people's temperature as they enter the building. 
• Best laid plans can go awry: Companies are using all types of means to determine whether people should go back to the office. Dell,  for example,  has "built its own digital tool to analyze more than a dozen data points, such as local cases and hospitalizations, to guide its decision". However, the pandemic, like many business continuity risks, expose the things in the process we take for granted. Consequently, caution is best when trying to going back to "semi-normal".  For example, some offices were shut down after re-opening for two weeks because someone had got COVID-19. 
• Waiting for an elevator a non-trivial dilemma: Who would have thought that elevators would pose to be a dilemma during a pandemic? Getting in a closed space is a problem. But also forcing people to wait for an elevator is a problem. Will workers "socially distance" while waiting or will they fill the time waiting with impromptu meetings with colleagues? 
• Public transport or carpooling is now a high-risk activity: The article points out that a company had sufficient parking spots for only a third of its employees. That is, they assumed others were not going to drive. But parking is not the only issue. Many of us who use public transit, use that time on the train to catch up on emails or get that deliverable out there. Consequently, stuck behind the steering wheel is not only stressful but also lost productivity.

What does this mean? 

Working from home is the new normal. And companies have made it work. For example, Aniket Sanyal, an engineer from Halliburton was able to drill oil wells around the world from the comfort of his own home. What did he need? In his own words: “I just needed a good internet connection”. Other jobs, whether it's balancing a trial balance or sending documents to the client, are a lot less complex. They can be easily accommodated in the world of cloud and conference calls. 

According to Jennifer Davis, senior vice president of global communications from Dell: “We are predicting within our company and, frankly, more broadly, that the future of work looks different and that more people will stay home permanently". The article also notes that "only 50% of its workers will ever go back to an office, even when the crisis passes". In other words, working from home is now the new normal. Think about it. Would anyone risk getting COVID-19 waiting for an elevator when they could avoid such a risk by working from home? 

Consequently, the pandemic and the risks it brings makes us re-evaluate whether we need to be onsite or whether we just need a good internet connection.  

Author: Malik Datardina, CPA, CA, CISA. Malik works at Auvenir as a GRC Strategist that is working to transform the engagement experience for accounting firms and their clients. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent UWCISA, UW, Auvenir (or its affiliates), CPA Canada or anyone else.

Have you heard of Zoom Fatigue? Killing the commute is not all it's cracked up to be

We are all probably familiar with "Zoombombing" by now.  This is where nefarious hackers (FBI has a warning about this) or Australian comedians (like Hamish Blake) invade your Zoom calls.



But have you heard of Zoom Fatigue?

Well, according to the BBC, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), it is real.

COVID-19 has forced a locked-down, requiring people to work from home. That is, those who are fortunate enough to work from home during this pandemic, can use Zoom, Skype or other video chat apps to conduct business as usual. Except there are challenges. As noted in the USA Today article:

"From having to focus on 15 people at once in gallery view or worrying about how you appear as you speak, a number of things may cause someone to feel anxious or worried on a video call. Any of these factors require more focus and mental energy than a face-to-face meeting might, said Vaile Wright, the American Psychological Association's director of clinical research and quality."

BBC echoes something similar:

"Being on a video call requires more focus than a face-to-face chat, says Petriglieri. Video chats mean we need to work harder to process non-verbal cues like facial expressions, the tone and pitch of the voice, and body language; paying more attention to these consumes a lot of energy. “Our minds are together when our bodies feel we're not. That dissonance, which causes people to have conflicting feelings, is exhausting. You cannot relax into the conversation naturally,” he says"

To mitigate these impacts, both articles suggest being judicious on what calls should have the video turned on. USA Today quoting Vaile Wright (see above): "Be thoughtful about how you're using Zoom calls. You probably don't need video chat for all your work."

The WSJ sees this new reality differently.

They looked at the premise that working from home would result in free time for people. One of the individuals they interviewed for the story, thought that they would learn how to crochet. That didn't happen. What they found instead was that the inability to physically separate oneself from the work environment has enabled an "always-on" mentality. We all know no one is going anywhere, so the default assumption is that you are available. This is both for work as well as non-work meetings. For example, another individual in the article noted that they had to maintain an online calendar for their social life just to manage things.

For me, it's the commute. It takes about 20 minutes to drive to the commuter train station, then about an hour on the train. Then another 10 to 15 minutes to walk to the office. What I hadn't fully realized until now is a couple of things. Over time I have learned to use that time productively. It was during these gaps in my day that I could catch up with audiobooks and podcasts.

But there was another thing that was surprising.

The changing of scenario from home to the car to the station to the streets of Toronto and then the office gave me a chance to take a mental break automatically. At each point in commute, I was refreshed. With life at home, you can just be stuck behind a computer. (I am fidgety, so I guess that helps!) My podcast and audiobook consumption has collapsed, but I am writing more blog posts :)

Is this what the future holds?

I think that after this is over, the mental barrier that some executives had against working from home will be reduced dramatically. Even prior to the COVID-19 shut down, I knew of a fellow Hamiltonian who worked at a start-up where everyone was online. There was no office to speak of. With this being the new normal, weighed with the cost savings may convince some businesses that it's worth it to abandon the office lease altogether. That being said, there will need to be some kind of periodic physical meetings. But that can be accommodated in free public spaces like parks.

We often see in futuristic scenarios, how someone rolls out of their bed, slips a microphone/earpiece into their ear and then starts working with the hologram downstairs. Who would have thought it would have taken a pandemic to bring this future closer.

Author: Malik Datardina, CPA, CA, CISA. Malik works at Auvenir as a GRC Strategist that is working to transform the engagement experience for accounting firms and their clients. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent UWCISA, UW, Auvenir (or its affiliates), CPA Canada or anyone else