UBI: The Agile Advantage
Navigating the choppy waters of the ‘COVID crunch’ is scary for everyone — employees, business owners, politicians, citizens overall. As economic contraction takes place in response to the largest pandemic our generation has ever seen, we’re seeing whole sections of society vanish, some of which may, sadly never reappear. All of us, even the most innovative and entrepreneurial are at significant risk — on a personal level in terms of their own and their families’ health, as well as economically.
Because of this, the only way for countries to adapt to the new normal in a way that does not destroy the livelihoods of nearly all of its inhabitants is through Universal Basic Income — an unconditional payment made to all citizens so that they are able to rebuild their lives and stay safe in the midst of Coronavirus. Indeed, the UK Government is facing increased calls for it to be implemented to protect the public while in self-isolation.
UBI must happen now. We’re facing three dimensions of business disruption — all of which call for unprecedented levels of agility in response — this will happen too slowly and with too much collateral damage unless UBI is enacted swiftly.
1) COVID-19 is disrupting how we learn: Lifelong learning was already in its infancy before the virus struck, but now, instead of it being something that mainstreams gradually, it has been thrust into the centre stage. Schools are being forced into moving online in order to provide parents with the tools for home-based education.
Adult education has been well established for online consumption already, with the creation of distance learning MBAs from top business schools like Warwick, and MOOCs such as General Assembly and Skillshare. In the adult education market, brands that are able to offer accessible education now will arguably benefit from when the new normal has become established.
Which is just as well, because the job market has been dealt a shock like no other. In the space of days, we’ve seen some sectors (such as live events) crumbling and other receiving a sudden boost — such as Ocado Netflix and Amazon as people scramble to ensure they have enough food to feed themselves and their families all day, be entertained and create a home office (Microsoft Teams anyone?).
This combined with a change in people’s schedules will mean we will need to learn in a directed manner, to spot and take advantage of the new opportunities that emerge from amid the smoke. However, the depth of training required to make a genuine move from one sector to another is still expensive. This needs to be made economically viable for educators and learners.
2) COVID-19 is disrupting the purpose of business: for those of us that work within or have clients that are multinational organisations, the very purpose of those companies are being called into question in the short term. Right now the only corporate statement worth making is: “This is what our business can do for the COVID-19 relief effort.” Only a matter of weeks ago, a business that had a ‘social purpose’ was so-called because it was different from a ‘normal’ business that focusses primarily on the needs of its investors, customers and/or shareholders. This has now changed. Purposeful companies that have the inbuilt agility are turning their manufacturing processes over to make hand sanitiser, ventilators and new, much-needed services. Fortress companies — those associated with the provision of key services and products will need to expand their service provision, and in doing so attract a larger base of employees — because they have a purpose that is vital to the functioning of society. Mass redeployment is already happening, as Ocado seeks delivery staff laid off from other roles, but these immediate new roles alone won’t solve the issue of layoffs as businesses reconfigure and find a new role in society.
3) COVID-19 has transformed work styles: this weekend, just like a number of people, I have bought a small desk and chair to join the legions of remote workers suddenly created by this pandemic.
Previous remote working advice can only go so far, as this is the first time that remote has been the norm for knowledge-based workers, rather than a niche group interacting with the majority of office-based professionals. Nonetheless, we can take inspiration from startups in this area, such as tech companies like Buffer and design agencies like MYWW (who incidentally run a helpful range of remote working webinars).
There’s a major behavioural shift to take into account also, such as how to make the most of collaboration tools, particularly for actions that we are used to performing in person, such as stand-ups, interviewing team members, and hosting brainstorms. How to network meaningfully with people when we don’t know when (or whether) we will meet in person. These adjustments will take time to work out, and these challenges are best met by businesses and workers that are not at grave financial risk.
