As of right now, I am a prospective business major. Currently, one semi-permanent way the pandemic has affected my field of study is the way that businesses operate behind the scenes. Due to social distancing measures and COVID protocols, teams have had to make the switch from in-person meetings to Zoom and online meetings. A virtual method of communication holds slightly different uses and benefits, as well as potentially problems. I think that the switch to a more digital-focused approach for businesses is part of a growing trend of utilizing technology that has been going on for many years and the occurrence of COVID just drastically pushed this forward. Once the impacts of COVID decrease and measures such as social distancing are more lenient or dropped, I’m interested to see if companies will continue operations that they started during COVID, or potentially some hybrid of before and after. Another interesting change has been the emphasis for comfortability and prioritizing worker satisfaction, which has led to a decline in the need for professionalism and a more strict and uptight schedule/workplace. This is evident in the enjoyment of working remotely and many being able to work for their business in comfortable clothes and in an environment that they have control over and want to be in.

As far as if these kinds of changes are resulting in a net-positive or negative for society, I think it’s a little hard to tell right now. We are still in the pandemic, and there are many other factors influencing numbers that I would consider important for evaluating. For example, employees are having more positive experiences; however, I’m not sure if working remotely is improving or limiting efficiency and productivity. Something that is of a more immediate concern is the unemployment rate, as places such as restaurants and other businesses that don’t have much digital options that would continue their rate of operations and profit are having to resort to a much smaller staff or close altogether. It seems that with the COVID situation looking to improve, so will the employment rate.