CW: grief and death.
This crisis has been very informative of what employers really think about their staff.
I think we need to try and treat this period of lock down and social distancing as a hibernation: a chance to withdraw and quietly consider possibilities.
Now I know that most of us are going to spend a large chunk of this period in anxious (appropriate) fear and that most of us are going to get very sick (and probably have to nurse other sick people). There are also going to be periods of grief and mourning: no family or community will be left untouched by death this year.
But this is all the more reason to consider carefully our way forward if we are blessed enough to make it to 2021.
I proudly work for the NHS however I work in research and innovation and I can’t help thinking about my role in the current crisis (the reduced capacity of the NHS may be partly due to recent fashion for lean, just in time and “efficiency”). Now, before you start sharpening your pitchforks, I’ve never laid anyone off nor been involved in a project that required staff cuts, however, I have been party to a culture where we plot and scheme how to do more with less. Should my role have been to petition for more staff instead of acquiescing to the government agenda?
In other words, more crudely “am I the baddy?”
For you, you need to reflect is your current situation in alignment with your values? If you realise something needs to shift then I’ve got a post coming later this week that will help where you need to start