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Davies Ndumiso Sibanda
SINCE the lockdown came into effect, many employers are not certain their businesses will survive into the future and are not even sure what will happen to their workers.

Working from home is likely to have a lasting impact on organisations as new efficient, effective and cheap working methods are adopted. Some workers could lose their jobs permanently and it could also be the death of some businesses.

A communication revolution is currently taking place the world over, people are doing online jobs that at times are paying much more than their traditional jobs. Lockdown and high hygiene standards have created a new culture that people are adopting and such new cultures could mean a departure from how things were done.

The loss of loved ones, health professionals and many others is likely to lead to a relook at the price of some professionals, for example, I listened to a New York hospital cleaner talk about his job. The knowledge he had about sanitisation and safety and hygiene and the fact that his actions could determine whether a patient lives or dies. I have no doubt that after this epidemic the world will look at them with a different eye.

The way the world’s manufacturing industry has responded to the production of ventilators is amazing, even to those organisations nobody thought could produce medical equipment have risen to the occasion. This flexibility in production refocus will definitely have an impact on jobs into the future. We could go on and on about the possible changes to the world of work but the bottom line is that many jobs will change, many businesses will die and new ones will emerge.

The workers dilemma is that they either have to be dinosaurs and wait for change to swallow them if it comes or think on their feet and embrace change and move with it. Moving with change is not going to be a walk in the park. New skills will have to be learnt, new knowledge will have to be acquired and all these mean long lonely hours on the computer teaching yourself. Most universities are less likely to be very useful as most of them run on yesterday’s syllabi. There are, however, some universities that are drivers of tomorrow and have already responded to change and have a curriculum that talks to the future.

I am aware many workers in Zimbabwe are worried about micro labour matters such as whether they will be paid wages while on lockdown, leave entitlement, contracts that end while they are on lockdown, sick leave while they are on lockdown, implications of the new minimum wage while they are on lockdown and many others. I shall address these questions in my next article.

In conclusion, the lockdown is driven by an act that dwarfs the Labour Act Chapter 28:01 and creates an environment where we all should be prepared to change, accept some disappointments as well as good news.