David Quinn
The pandemic has allowed people to reflect on what really matters to them in life, writes David Quinn
The pandemic has impacted different groups in different ways. I am not referring to the direct effect of the disease itself, but of lockdown and other restrictions imposed to ensure Covid-19 did not go out of control.
Some groups had to continue to go out to work every day during the worst of the pandemic, the most obvious category being nurses and doctors. But manual workers far more than professional, white-collar workers had to go to their workplace each day regardless of how widespread or not the disease was over the past 18 months.
This category includes those working in essential retail, truck drivers, bus drivers, food processors and so on.
Priests with chaplaincy duties had to don their personal protective equipment and go into hospitals and care homes to continue offering succour, spiritual support and the sacraments to those seriously ill and dying, including from Covid-19.
The pandemic has been particularly draining for all these groups because they were exposing themselves to danger in a way others were not. We had to lockdown to minimise our chances of being infected, or infecting others, but these workers had to take risks each day, even though they did their best to maintain social distancing and so on.
Work from home
On the other hand, being able to work from home on full-pay because your duties could be performed online was a great boon for many people. They no longer had to make long commutes to and from work. Their working hours became more flexible. They could spend more time with their children, although the demands of having to give them additional help with their schoolwork because teaching was taking place online could also be draining.
Now that the worst of the pandemic is over thanks to vaccines, many people are taking stock of their lives. What do they want to do from here on in? Lots do not want to go back to the way things were.
For example, a worldwide poll conducted by the technology giant, Microsoft, found that 41% of people are thinking of quitting their present jobs or changing profession. This is twice as many as in a normal year.
Poll
An Irish poll, conducted by the Work Futures Lab at the Kemmy Business School, found an almost identical result. This is being called ‘The great Resignation’. Another, bigger term, is ‘The Great Reset’.
Many people are obviously deciding that they don’t want to go back to their lives as they were before. Clearly, lots of workers have preferred being able to work from home. They believe they have proven they can do their job as well online as they can in the office. Of course, whether their employers agree with them is a different matter.
Regardless, there is a shortage of workers at present in many sectors, so employees are in position to make demands. If a given company insists on someone coming into the office each day, that person will obviously go working for a firm that doesn’t make this demand.
The aforementioned Irish poll says that men are seeking to change jobs for greater flexibility, and women for more pay. That could be down to the fact that women (or rather, mothers) already tend to work fewer hours in employment on average than men.
The pandemic has allowed people to reflect on what really matters to them in life. Is climbing the career ladder as important as they thought it was? Do they have to try and make so much money if it means working 60-hour weeks?
What have priests been thinking during all this? If ordinary workers have been re-evaluating their lives, then maybe some clergy have as well. They might also want a change in life, whatever that may mean.
Resignation
But can ‘the Great Resignation’ work? No matter what, people still have to make a living, they must still pay the bills, including the mortgage. We can dream of a better life, but in practice if we change job, we may find it doesn’t live up to our expectations, that we prefer our old work colleagues better, or that we’re becoming lonely working at home.
This would be especially true of younger people. Even before the pandemic they spent a lot of time ‘meeting’ each other online, but ultimately nothing beats face-to-face contact. Having to attend a class online rather than in person means you are missing the chance to make new friends and catch up properly with old ones.
Learn
Also, if you rarely go into the office, then how can you learn from the experience of older colleagues, develop workplace camaraderie, learn about a company’s way of doing things?
I suspect what will happen in the months and years to come is that more people than usual will change jobs or careers and might find ways to simplify their lives.
Many will end up working at home part-time, and in the office the rest of the week. So, a compromise will be found between workers and employers.
Rural towns will become busier, the centres of cities like Dublin will be permanently quieter. The pandemic might have the unexpected side effect of helping to revive rural Ireland.
Christianity has, of course, been teaching all through its existence that the spiritual is more important than the material, and that family matters more than work. Therefore, from a Christian point of view, aspects of the ‘Great Reset’ are to be welcomed.
In fact, the Church ought to view the present moment as an evangelistic opportunity. Can it find ways to seize this moment and put its message before people in a fresh way?