Did the world ever imagine a time (so close), which would change the shape of entire economy? Entire humanity? “Pandemic” only used to be a short “last” chapter of our courses which was generally meant for skipping for most of us! Who knew this chapter of our course will become a reality one day!! Obviously, nobody was prepared, no one imagined but everyone now is creating HISTORY..
It’s absolutely crazy to see a complete 180-degree economic turn in a span of just, a few DAYS!! This has left no sector unhurt and the economy is expected to see the greatest depression of all times. Unlike the 2008 global crisis, which had hit only the demand side, COVID-19 crisis is killing both the sides equally and badly!
In the current times, we see a southward movement across all business functions. CMIE (Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy) states the unemployment rates have already hit double digits in the Week 1 of lockdown and we can only expect the percentage to go up looking at how things are unfolding! Who’s the worst affected? The freshers? The mid management? Or the big shots? This would need a more business specific introspection, but to summarize, the ones who are at the non-billable side of the business, or more commonly, ones in the support functions, are certainly the “worst hit”! Support functions, as the name itself says, supports the business to grow and has no direct impact on the revenue of the organization. In the current crisis; where the news is flooded with unemployment figures hitting the peak; situation calls for an approach where we save the sinking ship first. Human Resources, Talent Acquisition (TA), Recruitment, Marketing, Advertising, Branding, Facilities etc., to name a few, might see a more serious slowdown vis-a-vis the ones who are directly adding to the revenue.
Hiring / recruitment / offers are usually the first thing to go “on hold” to cut down cost in any business at any time. And in this time of crisis where the entire economy is expected to see a dipping GDP, saving the business becomes a priority for many, especially the MSME sector. Does this mean the business support functions have no future now? Is the job safe? Do they need to panic? Not really, there’s no dearth of ideas to innovate in the world!!
There are industries which, amid the crisis, see (or are expected to see) a never imagined growth in times to come. Education, E-gaming, Agriculture and Medical industries are the ones at the top of my mind for now. And when there is an industry, there has to be an organization and where there’s an organization, it definitely will need some “Support”.. It is just a matter of time (which shall definitely pass), and I’m sure it’ll take no time for these functions to BOUNCE BACK!
Onus is on us to decide how can we leverage this opportunity and make the best possible use of our capabilities and potential. True – “Change is the only constant” and hence, undoubtedly, our ability to adapt to the change has to remain constant (to the minimum) or rather grow!!
