New work habits could affect recovery
With COVID- 1 9 closures and lockdowns now in their ninth week, an important milestone looms: day 66.
Researchers at University College London found that 66 days is the average time it takes for new behaviours to become automatic or habitual. ( Giant grain of salt: this varies with the individual, the activity and the circumstances.) This prompts questions about what habits we are hardwiring into ourselves, given that our daily lives have been upended now for two months and counting.
Roughly 40 per cent of what we do is habitual and, according to Jim Davies, a professor of psychology at Carleton University, forming habits is important for higher-order thinking — i.e., thinking about things other than the immediate task that is occupying us at any given moment. Essentially, habits clear brain space for us to deal with life’s bigger decisions.
So, with lives and routines completely disrupted, how will the habits we are installing now affect how and when we emerge from our current state? Davies doubts anyone knows for sure. And because habits are so individual, it may be impossible for governments and employers to predict precisely how they will factor into the economic recovery on a society- wide scale. Yet with billions of dollars of public money at stake, and our economic health on the line, that’s a major problem. And already there are signs that government aid may be having counterproductive effects.
Take the case of Cleen Detailing, a car care company with operations in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. As its managers were ramping up for the start of their busy season this spring, they went looking to hire dozens of college- and university- aged workers for the summer. Hundreds of candidates applied and dozens were shortlisted. Some even signed contracts. The company invested in extra safety and sanitization protocols to protect them from infection.
Everything looked ready to go, and then the government announced emergency benefits for students and young people. As a result, all but four employees decided to stay home, opting to collect government cheques rather than working all day every day for 50 per cent more pay.
The company’s owner, now scrambling to find workers and keep customers, worries that some people’s work ethic is starting to atrophy. He wonders how that will impact his hiring going forward — especially if wage replacements are extended beyond June.
If welfare- over- work becomes habit, how tough will that instinct be to break? If the car detailer’s experience is shared more broadly, will it put a stop to talk about schemes like a universal basic income? Looked at another way, how might work be valued and rewarded after the pandemic?
Some employers are already giving cues. Twitter recently told its employees that they might be able to work from home indefinitely. Other companies are providing their employees with more flexible schedules and other supports to account for new realities and employee demands. And still others, such as many grocers, have increased wages to compensate workers for heightened risks. Expect those costs to appear on future grocery bills, if they haven’t already.
What cues are governments sending? Most provinces are being tentative in their reopening and relaunch plans, despite emptying coffers and ballooning deficits. As for the federal government, all signs so far indicate that the taps will stay open and public dollars will continue to flow for as long as it takes. But that is neither sustainable, nor perhaps advisable, as those bills will come due, as well.
Yet even while the pandemic programs are still in place, there will be a need for governments at all levels to tweak or overhaul them, since most of them were rolled out at lightning speed at the start of this crisis. And in order to do this effectively, governments need information.
Some stats — like rates of substance and spousal abuse, suicides and other collateral damage that has resulted from the lockdowns — are fairly easy to obtain. But others are inherently individual and tougher to quantify, so how will governments and corporations make decisions accordingly? What role will legislators play in assessing whether programs are working as intended or not? How will companies incentivize people to return to full productivity?
The habits we are learning now will influence how and when we are ready to go back into the world. If leaders are thinking deeply about that, most aren’t talking about it. It may be that they simply don’t have answers, but with health restrictions remaining in place for the foreseeable future and debt clocks spiralling ever upward, time may be a luxury in the search for solutions.
With habits becoming more ingrained by the day, any potential corrections may get tougher and less politically palatable — but also more urgent. And from a public policy perspective, that should be focusing minds across the land.