The impact of COVID-19 on workplace practices: challenges, changes, and future directions FrontiersBlog#3

This is an editorial article on the impact of covid-19 on workplace practices: challenges, changes, and future directions. It was written by Diyako Rahmani and Cheng Zeng. They start of discussing the impact covid-19 pandemic had on workplace policies and practice's, including changes in leadership styles, work-life balance, and workplace communication. It's also stated the pandemic highlights inequalities among different groups of employees, including those from less advantaged backgrounds, women, and LGBTQ individuals. 

One thing this article discusses that I did not find in other articles is how the digital gap has amplified these inequalities with teleworking being a challenge for employees with special needs.

 Overall, these studies collectively focus on the effects of the pandemic on work-life balance, employee wellbeing, job demands and resources and organizational strategies. Other themes include the impact of the pandemic on job satisfaction and engagement, the role of attachment styles in workplace behaviors and finally the studies highlight the importance of organizational support, informational resources, and effective leadership in promoting employee wellbeing and reducing workplace deviant behaviors.   

 

This is one of the few articles I could find that was more focused on the well being of employees. Pandemic was hard on a lot of people, and it is good to see some studies focusing on helping people individually. I find it interesting how the pandemic also highlights inequalities among different groups of people. This article did not explain that statement to much, so I had to dig a little bit into that. In some countries like Panama, there was a transgender who found themselves between “a rock and hard place” when it came to "gender-based quarantines". They were forced to rely on courier services for supplies. Or another instance was LGBTQ people who were scapegoated by religious leaders for bringing the virus in the form of divine punishment. It is terrible that this kind of stuff still happens in this day in age, were it almost gives the vibe of Middle Ages and people thinking there were witch's because a disease has spread through.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2023.1207987/full