Future of work, jobs and careers after Covid19

The coronavirus started out as a health pandemic, but the outbreak will create long-lasting
changes to the way we live and work. There are some questions which are revolving in
everyone’s mind. Some of the questions are discussed by Sanjiv Mehta, chairman and MD of
Hindustan Unilever which will be discussed in this report.
This report is based on the live session taken by Ronnie Srewvala discussing “future of
work, jobs and careers after COVID19” with Sanjiv Mehta, chairman and MD of
Hindustan Unilever.
In this live session many interesting facts were brought up by Mr. Sanjiv Mehta. He shared
his experience of work from home and gave guidelines and advices to young professionals on
time management, career management and answered very interesting questions, which all I
have discussed in this report. This report is just an overview of what all was discussed is the
live session.
First and foremost, Mr. Sanjiv Mehta discussed about Covid19 and its impact. The first
question that will come to anyone’s mind would be How bad is the impact on the economy
and what are the scenarios for recovery? In reality data and projections would not answer
these questions. When the virus projectory is unknown, we can’t predict the GDP growth
correctly. Also the behaviour of consumers and the companies is unknown. There is no
correct number which can say the impact of Covid19 on the world economy. If we see the
world financial markets, we can say that the world economy is on a path recession and the
risk is real.
Talking about the Impact on Indian economy, he said that a lot depends on how India fights
with the spread of the virus. The good news is that India has a large domestic economy and
the dependence on the exports is not so high. We know that the Indian economy was
weakening even before this crisis. For now, India is focusing on lives but the focus needs to
be shifted from only lives to lives and livelihoods. The steps taken by government should be
applauded as they have done a great job in closing the boarders and locking down the
country. Now similar steps are to be taken to save the economy. A big risk is breakdown in
the credit line, which would lead to severe liquidity crisis, high number of bankruptcy and job
losses.
He also talked about the recovery path, the recovery path depends upon the shape of
recession. According to economists there are three main shape a recession can take. Below
described are the three shapes a recession can take.

Shape of recession

V-shaped recessions are recessions that begin with a steep fall but then quickly find a
bottom, turn back around and move immediately higher. A V-shaped recession is a best-case
scenario. The recession of 1990 to 1991 and the recession of 2001—both of which only lasted
eight months—are considered to be V-shaped recessions.
U-shaped recessions are recessions that begin with a slightly slower decline but then remain
at the bottom for an extended period of time before turning around and moving higher again.
The recession from 1971 through 1978—when both unemployment and inflation were high
for years—is considered a U-shaped recession.

L-shaped recessions are recessions that fall quickly and fail to recover. An L-shaped
recession is a worst-case scenario because they offer no hope of recovery. The Japanese
recession that began in the early 1990s is considered an L-shaped recession.

At this stage we cannot predict which shape this recession will take but we have to prepared
for every situation. With an optimistic mind-set we can hope that it is V and Not a L but we
have to be prepared for the worst case scenario. If we look at the empirical data from the
price shock and epidemic including the SAARS epidemic, Hong Kong flu (1968), Asian flu
(1958), Spanish flu (1980) they all were more like V shaped. So Sanjiv Mehta’s says being an
optimistic he hopes for the best and in a country like India god is kind and we are able to
bounce back and it happens to be a V shaped recession.

Mr. Mehta gives advice to leaders and owners of business.

1. Don’t become dependent on projections. Financial markets are representing great

uncertainty.

2. Don’t allow your financial market turbulence to cloud your journey.

3. Focus on consumer confidence signals, know how to leverage your business data.

4. Hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.

5. Keep calm retain your confidence.

6. Focus on cash and liquidity

Talking on “How to plan for careers” Mr. Sanjiv Mehta gives the following advices to the
young professional and students.
1. Take charge of your own career.
2. Careers are not viewed solely from the lens of vertical progression. Careers depend on
diversity of experiences, new skills. Literacy is not just about learning, reading and
writing but it’s about learning, learning and re-learning.
3. India requires great managers and entrepreneurs. Earlier it was true that only people
with money could think of becoming entrepreneurs but now money is not a constraint
when you have a right idea money does come in. however there are many things
which are timeless expertise, domain skills, leadership, intuition based skills and
experience and ambition. If we never lose sight of these things, we will have a great
career.
He also talked about “The relevance of MBA’s in today’s drainage” MBA is still relevant.
The kind of skills its gives to an individual is different. We can’t say that without a MBA you
can’t succeed but if you go to any other grad school you do a trial and error of learning,
unlearning and many years to learn but with MBA you can pack that all in two years. In his
talk he also gave a piece of “Advice to senior managers” One advice to senior managers is
to become a learner yourself. Invest in learning and reinvent yourself. Don’t be worried about
technology, you need to have the passion, enthusiasm and keep investing in learning the
technology. Mr. Mehta also shared his routine and talked about “Time management while
doing work from home”. He said maintaining a routine and schedule is must for everyone.
We cannot take this work from home as a relaxation and work as we want.
According to Mr. Mehta During this time of crisis if the Indian IT companies are able to
ensure that the services they provide to the global customers goes uninterrupted and remain
of high level then the creditability of the Indian IT companies will move to new level. So this
is a great time for us to show and serve the globe.
Lastly he discussed about “the sector which will outshine in this time of crisis”, according
to Mr. Mehta the sector which is going to shine is the Indian health sector. This is a great
opportunity for the country to build the health care infrastructure. We should build the
capability of the health sector. According to Mr. Mehta India has a benefit of low wages so
we can build our country as the medical capital of the world. This covid19 can give a
transformation to health sector in India. India can become a big employer and attract more
foreign exchange.
Mamta Joshi
FPB1921/110