From ‘new normal’ to ‘back to normal’

Since the government relaxed the curfew regulations around the country, things have unexpectedly escalated from ‘ new normal’ to a ‘back to normal’ post COVID- 19 pandemic. Working from home and purchasing groceries online were some of the ‘ new normal’ practices people were strictly adhering to during the lockdown and nothing seems to have lasted for long post pandemic.

Online grocery and essentials shopping have drastically dropped while the ‘work from home’ strategy has now become ‘back to office work’ concept following the relaxation of the curfew.

The Sunday Times Business Club on Tuesday organised a webinar to discuss some of the experiences different business sectors went through during the lockdown, its members being the panellists.

Priyal Perera, a member who has an HR background, said that during the lockdown people had no choice but to buy whatever that was delivered to their doorstep without having to pick and choose. Not everyone had the knowledge and expertise in technology to buy things online whereas some services such as hardware equipment were not available during the lockdown. With technology almost all facilities were available at the touch of a button, but the human touch was not there, he added.

The lockdown gave an opportunity for everyone to optimise the time, another panelist, academic D r. Samantha Ratnayake stressed while adding that he had spent time on case studies, research and so on. He also noted on a few key lessons he learnt during the pandemic - failure of preparedness, systematic thinking, scenario planning, complex problem solving and having a successful business story.

Shantha Gunaratne pointed out the doubts of job security in top corporate companies. Apart from losing a job, the more economical impact is to the individual and the society. This criteria has evaluated many things for both the employee and employer.

Elaborating on the issues in the apparel sector, Shankar Sithambaram, a member in the textile trade, said the industry had lost two important seasons of the year - the Sinhala and Tamil New Year and Ramazan.

He also noted that the apparel sector is now looking at hygiene-based fabric, an anti- virus fabric to be imported. People have missed the touch and feel of fabric while there will soon be a bio-finished fabric in place to fight the pandemic in the country.

Rehan Kulatilake, who runs an office- from- home audio products business, spoke of how he also started a successful online delivery service during the lockdown but pointed out that demand has dropped since the country returned to normal as people opted for the physical experience of shopping in a super market.