Monday, 16 March 2020

Week 1 [16-22.03.20] Changing job market

 Read the articles at

https://www.businessinsider.com/jobs-hiring-to-help-or-look-into-coronavirus-outbreak-2020-3?IR=T
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200309-coronavirus-covid-19-advice-chinas-work-at-home-experiment
 and present your opinions on it.

13 comments:

  1. Today I heard a radio program saying that the third center of coronavirus appeared in USA. The highest number of coronavirus cases have been registered in New York, Washington DC and California. The global situation in the world does not look promising. We can hear about new coronavirus cases appearing each day. Most of employees have to work at home, some of people were dismissed from work during coronavirus time, for example, stewardesses or restaurant waiters, but there are some professions which are necessary to fight coronavirus. The first article describes the most in-demand American jobs in the time of the coronavirus pandemic. I think that healthcare workers are the most important for community, because they have direct contact with people who suffer from coronavirus. Their work is very important and we should appreciate it. In my opinion data specialists, researchers and scientists are necessary as well. Microbiologists and other scientists are needed for testing and reviewing the lab data related to coronavirus. Their analytical skills and inductive reasoning allow to draw conclusions. In my opinion data scientists are also very needed nowadays because with cooperation with researchers can create mathematical models to predict the evolution of coronavirus. I totally agree that healthcare workers, researchers and data scientists are very needed not only in USA but also in Poland. The second article is about Chinese employees who work from home. Millions of Chinese had to start working from home because of coronavirus. It was a new situation for most of them – they had the home office for the first time. The situation forced them to stay at home and they had to do it. They have had mixed reactions: some complained, some enjoyed. I think that today’s situation mobilizes people to be more flexible and to follow on digital technology. In my opinion it is the positive phenomenon because people saw that their presence is not mandatory to work because there are a lot of applications which allows video conference. Nowadays, we have a similar situation in Poland. If somebody can work at home, she/he does it. I work as a academic teacher and I conduct classes with students on-line. It is a new situation for me because I have not done it before but I like it 😉

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  2. The first article describes the change and increase in demand for professions that are helpful in the fight against the epidemic. So far more than 4000 people have fallen ill in the US. These are only confirmed cases. Due to the paid health service and very expensive, many residents of the U.S. do not go to the doctor. They also have no sick leave and go to work. They infect other people. It is natural that there is an increased demand for medical professions. Doctors, nurses, all these people are increasingly needed. Of course scientists, epidemiologists, doctors, biologists are needed to fight the virus. Somebody has to solve the problem, find a cure and a vaccine. Conducting research is a very complex process. Everyone must be managed efficiently. Due to epidemic situations, it is a big challenge for them. The second article refers to the Chinese labour market. The Chinese have not worked at home so far. And now, because of the epidemic, they had to start working from home. The epidemic has forced new methods of work and learning. Managers will have to adapt to managing people online. This time shows that presence at work is mandatory and the task is also done. In addition, there are many applications that allow you to work online (e.g. Teams). I as an academic teacher and I teach online with students. And I think it's better than if I was there.

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  3. Hmm, congratulations! I also work remotely with my students. However, in my professional work, unfortunately, I don't have such an opportunity. Like some of you know, I work in a company that pledges public order, so I can't hide my head under the rug. What's currently happening in the country is unheard of. Unusual both in our country and in the whole world. I'm forty-something, I didn't think I'd live to see that. Anyway, when I talk to my friends, nobody thought that way either. Let's stick to it!

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  5. The pandemic we are now facing will certainly affect the labour market. Unfortunately, it will affect every branch of business, even those that can mostly switch to remote working. This has never been attempted on such a large scale. As far as health care is concerned, they are the most important now and we all have to take care of them, hence, for example, the action "do not lie to the doctor". The work of scientists who are trying to develop drugs and vaccines for coronavirus is also important. They cannot afford to give up their work and work in the laboratory cannot be done remotely. Analyzing the acquired data requires a lot of computational resources and on the Folding@home website each of us can lend our computer to help with the calculations to develop coronavirus results. This unexpected quarantine will certainly increase the share of remote work in the future and will also introduce changes in other industries such as courier services, where we already see changes in the form of greater popularity of parcel machines and non-contact pick-up.

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  6. The two articles are very interesting. The first article describes most in-demand American jobs. In the time of Coronavirus some jobs offers are more popular than others. We need nurses, scientist or data analytics to help fight with virus. Nurses risk their lives taking care of patients. Scientist and data analytics analyze behavior of a virus and try to find clue that will help to stop the expansion of him. Maybe some jobs are temporary and when the pandemic ends people lost their jobs. That could happen but many people could get more experience and that could help them to be better specialist. Without their involvement people could died.
    The second article describes China people feelings working remotely in home. Many company workers in China had to change their work style. For many that was a new reality. They have to use new software to communicate with boss and make reports of finished work. In Poland we have similar problems. Many teachers don't have experience in remote working with students. They don't know how to prepare materials and use dedicated tools for that. This is a big problem for old dated teachers. It's a new reality and experience.
    After closing University I work in home. With my colleagues I contact using Slack and sometimes we have skype meetings. For me it is a new reality. Working in home has advantages and disadvantages. I think my performance is greater in home because I can concentrate on my work and I like work alone. I can do things in shorter time that in work place. I think some people will agree with me. This is an advantage. A disadvantage is less face to face contact with boss and colleagues. Sometimes we have to see each others to exchange information and talk about problems.

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  7. The first of these articles speaks of an increase in the demand of employees mainly from the medical, scientific and communication (more information) industry in the US. I believe that the information provided in the article can be applied to any country affected by coronavirus. It is logical to increase the demand of employees from the industries mentioned above. Unfortunately, it should also be noted that other industries, such as tourism, are losing employees due to the epidemiological situation. Reliable information reaching the public is very important. Unfortunately, so-called fake news spread very quickly and cause panic or fear.
    The second article is about changing the working mode from a so-called office to a remote one. Many Chinese people had to change their working mode and adapt to new conditions. In my opinion, the best way to fight coronavirus is to stay at home to stop the spread of the virus. You should make the most of this time by working remotely, for example. It is obvious that not all professions can be transferred to remote work (construction workers, drivers, etc.). At present, emphasis is placed on remote work in Poland so that our economy feels the effects of coronavirus as little as possible.

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  8. During this uncertain time job seams like not the most important thing, but it’s enough to look at the situation from wider perspective to realise how important topic it is. Firstly we don’t have enough health care specialist, also nurses and doctors are the most exposed to infection, and can get sick easily. Next two group of highly needed employees are the ones fighting with pandemic behind computer screens, or research labs - they are data specialist, researchers and scientists. To be able to battle with the virus we have to get to know it better. At the end also mentioned are communication specialist, I think it’s very important to inform the society properly about the situation, without arousing unnecessary panic, communication should be clear and transparent.
    The second article is about working culture change taking place in Chine, we are facing this also in Poland, people react differently to home office, some like it very much while the others can’t adjust. I think that worth mentioning is the fact that also kids and young people change their way of education for on-line one, and probably some of them are not taking it very well.

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  9. Remote working is right now an emerging subject in all social media. A whole lot of companies (such as Google, Webex) are opening access to their remote-working tools. I hope that this situation will switch thinking of management about this kind of cooperation, and they became more open-minded about that. Furthermore, I hope that it will show some people that all-day business meetings are simply a waste of time.

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  10. I agree with the first article that in these hard times we need a much larger number of doctors, nurses, virologists and scientists dealing with the analysis of the spread of not only the coronovirus, but also other viruses and biological threats. In my opinion, there are never too many such people, because many countries has an aging population and investing in good and modern health care is necessary. As for remote work, I have mixed feelings. My husband and I are working remotely at the moment and we both find that leaving the house for the office for eight hours allows us to concentrate better on work. At home, many things can be distracting: TV, books, internet. From next week I am starting remote classes with students and I am really afraid that the university infrastructure is not well adapted to this. In addition, many professions cannot be performed remotely. Suppliers, store employees, builders, etc. must work in these difficult times all the time. You hear more and more about forced layoffs because companies go bankrupt due to economic stagnation. I think that in the future more people will choose to work remotely, because for many companies, especially IT it is a cheaper option, because you do not need to pay for the office, and meetings can be done via Skype. I think that the current situation with remote work will show the employer that you can send someone home to take care of, for example, a sick child and that he can do his work in his spare time. We are all slowly adapting to the new situation in the world, the question is what our life will look like when the pandemic ends, whether everything will return to the old norm or we will feel the serious effects of the virus.

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  11. The first article talk about how pandemic increase number of jobs offers in a few branch. I'm not suprised about it. It's quite obvious that now everyone trying to stop this virus as soon as possible. Data scientists, researchers and others trying to find a vaccine against the virus. Interesting for me from this article was information about need for employment communications specialists...I wouldn't guest that they are really need nowadays.
    With reference to the second article I could add that this experiment show that it is posiible for chinese people to perform their duties towards their employer from home. I have a contact with a 4 chinese people which work first time from home from 4-6 years. They were suprised that working from home could be as efficient as office work. Moreober they spend more time with their families what is priceless.

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  12. I wouldn't overestimate the recent changes in remote work. Those changes are forced externally, and once external pressure will cede, people will return to old routine of working (or rather being present at work) from 8 to 16 sharp, with pointless meetings and wasted time. For those unfortunate who just now had a first chance to work remotely, not entirely of they own will, when we are facing so many other problems, and when communication tools are collapsing under high load, it won't be a pleasant experience. I just hope that when it'll all end, the pendulum won't swing too much in opposite direction, as I love to work at home.

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  13. Referring to the first article, there will also be a shortage of medical staff in Poland,
    especially because it is most susceptible to infection. It doesn't look good.
    As for remote work, at this exceptional time exactly this week I could not do my work remotely and all the calculations I had to do on the equipment at the university.
    Fortunately, it is already behind me and I can hide for as long as needed, as long as there is cellular coverage in my shelter. And now I can work remotly until it(pandemic) ends.

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