Are you afraid to work in 2022?

Covid is still affecting the way we will work in 2022 | Unsplash.com

The New York Times noted today that more than 4.5 million people in America quit their jobs in November, the most in two decades of tracking, as openings remained near a record high. I have to ask myself why. Is it because of the uncertainty that prevails today because of Covid? Or is it because the way we work is changing so radically?

2022 Work Environment

The 2022 work environment will be new and different than before the start of Covid. And unfortunately, we don’t know what it will be like going forward. Clearly, the world of hybrid work is here to stay. My daughter-in-law has moved from an eclectic environment where her company provided snacks and lunch for all the workers to a fully remote work environment. Her company hasn’t given any indication that they will change back. What has brought this on?

The Covid Effect

Covid rapidly changed the rules of work when we had to lockdown in 2020. We didn’t foresee that it would still be affecting us like it is today. Today we are still seeing many Covid cases. And although we are trying to go back to working together, if someone in your office has a positive test for Covid then your office will likely close down. The eve-day average number of hospitalizations is 97,364 with only 18,963 in the ICU. Only 62.2% of the population has received both vaccinations and only 21.7% have received their booster shot.

These are telling numbers. Although the number of hospitalized people is still high we have a long way to go. We must get people vaccinated along with their booster shot to slow this rise. Clearly, as long as this remains the same getting back to a normalized working environment will be slow. It will come as a few steps forward then a step back.

My conclusions are

1. Things are getting better, but not as fast as we want.
2. Work will remain a mixture of remote and in-person throughout this year and perhaps into 2023.
3. Finding a way to get everyone vaccinated is the key to returning to working in person and having safe gatherings.
4. Recognize this as a world problem and start treating it as such. As long as most of the world remains unvaccinated, we will continue to see new variants of the virus.