The Future of Work: The New Norm: What happens after all this?

Managing Director, The Demographics Group

Bernard Salt is widely regarded as one of Australia’s leading social commentators by business, the media and the broader community. He is the Managing Director of The Demographics Group, and he writes weekly columns for The Australian that deal with social, generational and demographic matters.

The generation that survived WWI, the Spanish Flu and the Great Depression (the grandparents of today’s baby boomers) were changed by their experience with multiple global adversities. They were for example frugal for the whole of their lives. We too will be shaped by our experience with global adversity, by the ways that we are forced to adapt to our new circumstances. In the post-pandemic world I think we will be more inclined to work from home, we will carry the expectations of generally improved personal hygiene, we will store more food at home (bigger fridges/freezers), we will seek out and support locally manufactured product, we will question the presumed benefits of globalisation. The principle is that those who go through adversity are very much shaped by the experience. These lessons will shape our nation for a generation or more into the future.