Chapter 41
Largecorp and COVID-19
Largecorps keep chugging on despite the pandemic. Many of them are gleeful with the wiping out of less capitalized competitors. McDonalds will weather the storm with its deep pockets. It is the smallcorps in many cases that will have to fold. But it rather depends on the sector largecorp is in. Airlines and hotels and the hospitality sector will be hammered. So certain largecorps may fall without taxpayer (government) support. It is hit and miss but generally speaking the more capitalized largecorp is the better it will ride the waves. Smallcorps don’t have the luxury of capital. Take restaurants for example many of them will fall but McDonalds, Popeyes or Tim Hortons will motor on.
One change will be the trend to Work From Home (WFH) which as a expense reduction method actually started years before COVID. Real estate is a big cost factor for largecorps so the more the employee can be moved to a home workplace down goes the real estate cost and that is in largecorp’s playbook. Employees can and always have been monitored at work and at home so this is no big adjustment for largecorp in employee spying….oops monitoring..
The downside in the long term is the fragmentation of the work unit. Virtual relationships may be technically efficient but they are leading to isolation of the WFH crowd, the lack of coherence within business units and the difficulty of establishing personal relationships which will ultimately affect the bottom line. Of course, it sets a nice path for artificial intelligence as when employees are out of sight they can be out of mind and more easily supplanted by AI.
Employees are more isolated and can be bullied unseen by their colleagues by the Senior Management Team and the Human Resources Department. The SMY will remain well cemented without the critical eyes of employees. What do they say, “When the cat’s away the mice will play”?
Will the office tower ever be resurrected? My thought is that the office tower will survive although diminished in size. If a visit to the office tower is required the concept of shared offices and common meeting rooms will gain in popularity. Again this is already the practice for many largecorps.
Largecorp will survive with all its quirks and ills but unfortunately for many employees of particular largecorps COVID may spell their job loss demise. However, let us not get so totally wrapped up in the dire circumstances of COVID and resort to a well known expression “all things will come to pass.
Expect a push by largecorps to promote a vaccination passport so establish proof an employee has had a COVID vaccination. This will reduce the liability for largecorps against employee claims the employer failed to adhere to its COVID protocols.
As a last word again I encourage largecorp employees to maximize their employer offered life insurance.
Good-bye. This has been a great adventure with you. Safe travels.
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