The ripple effect of this first case was powerful, with changes in the country’s working lifestyle, economy, social fabric, and healthcare sector. Some of these changes will be transient, things will go back to how they were once the pandemic is over.
The impact of COVID-19 has been so great that some aspects of Singapore’s daily life have been changed forever.
About two weeks later, the government announced that Singapore would move into Outbreak Response System Condition Orange and restrictions were introduced.
In April, there were many groups, including the first in the dormitories of migrant workers. The country then went into isolation, with a “circuit breaker” and strict rules on gatherings.
The silence of Singapore
Singapore then went silent: Busy street vendors were only open for take-out, non-essential stores were closed and offices were closed, with working from home becoming the new normal. Traveling abroad has become a major challenge, with countries imposing restrictions on visitors to protect themselves from imported cases.
The country has started to reopen its doors
Even as Singapore saw the number of community cases drop significantly in June and the country began to reopen, uncertainty remained about the coronavirus, its mutations and how the easing of restrictions would affect the country.
Beyond the daily challenges, conversations about bigger and longer-term issues have started to emerge in Singapore. Is working from home the future? Will people keep their jobs? What about the coming recession? What about migrant workers from Singapore?
Who needs an office?
Remember when going to the office every day was the norm? Experts have long debated the benefits of working from home – before COVID-19, it was considered a luxury and a revolution.
This revolution came quickly with the onset of the pandemic, but it was not always a luxury. Arguments can be made for and against telework when it comes to work-life balance, with some celebrating the time saved on commuting, but others feeling the pressure of working in a workplace. cramped environment, with little separation between professional and personal life.
It means deeper changes in working life, with employers looking to get the most out of their staff when they sit at home, with the distractions that this entails like bored kids or noisy neighbors.
Professor Paulin Straughan from the Singapore University of Management (SMU) said that working from home is more than just a physical relocation: “This is a whole new transformation in organizational culture, which is changing. our way of working and accounting for KPIs (key performance indicators) “.
Zoom, king of the world
One of the biggest changes in the way telecommuting is done is the use of video chats. Zoom’s share skyrocketed when millions of people started using the video conferencing platform during shutdown times.
Andy Ho, associate professor at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), said, “I think that being able to meet on Zoom is not a bad thing, as long as you can make sure that people are really punctual It’s hard to be late for a meeting on Zoom, you’re already home, where else can you be?
But it’s “very different” from a face-to-face meeting – there’s less brainstorming, and it can be more of a hindrance than a help, he added. “When everyone is physically together, it’s easy to have a creative and dynamic session, whereas in a Zoom meeting you really can’t talk to each other.”
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