Karima-Catherine Goundiam is the founder and chief executive officer of digital strategy firm Red Dot Digital and business matchmaking platform B2BeeMatch.
A boy wearing a face mask outside the Royal Alexandra Theater in Toronto, which is closed due to the Spanish flu, c. 1918.City of Toronto Archives
The Spanish flu pandemic is famous for killing more than 50 million people. The other thing it’s famous for is how quickly people stopped talking about it once the worst was past.
I’m seeing a similar thing happening today following the first few years of the COVID-19 pandemic, and I’m concerned that now, just like back in 1918, we’re missing valuable opportunities to learn lessons and apply them in today’s business world.
Until the mid-1980s, the Spanish flu pandemic was a strange blank spot in the historical record. No memorials to the doctors and nurses who died; few news articles; a scattering of personal narratives; and almost no attention from historians. That 70-year silence led later historians to declare it the “forgotten pandemic,” even though it was similar to the Black Death in terms of death toll.
Authorities didn’t communicate well about the spreading pandemic in the moment, either. Instead, they ignored the problem or provided pat reassurances to the public that quickly proved to be inaccurate.
“The communication strategy of either reassurance or silence had its effect,” writes scholar John M. Barry. “Its effect was terror.”
People felt they couldn’t trust the authorities, leaving them to take matters into their own hands, which often meant simply panicking. As a result of people’s terror, Mr. Barry argues, key social structures collapsed in many places, from shipping to health care services, as well as general social support and mutual care.
It’s not a perfect parallel, but there are some eerie similarities with the pandemic that rose some 100 years later.
Current figures indicate that COVID-19 has directly killed more than seven million people worldwide, and up to 36 million if we consider what are known as “excess deaths,” meaning higher-than-normal numbers of deaths that are officially recorded as being from other causes but were likely brought on by COVID-19. Long COVID has caused ongoing disability for millions more.
As this devastating illness spread, the business world initially reacted with massive adaptation. COVID showed us that we can be incredibly agile when the need arises. We employed digital technologies such as videoconferencing software like never before and remote work arrangements saw a “meteoric rise,” according to Forbes. We diversified our suppliers amid a supply chain crisis resulting from mass business closures and travel restrictions. Businesses adapted to a sudden major increase in ecommerce sales. All of a sudden, with a spike in mental health issues across the board, companies began talking about mental health for workers. According to NFP Canada, “mental health benefits paid between 2019 and 2023 rose by an astonishing 120 per cent.”
Broadly speaking, we saw amazing shows of compassion, empathy and solidarity. These are just some of the many changes we experienced starting in 2019 and 2020.
But now, nobody wants to talk about it. Some of the changes have lasted, if in modified forms. Videoconferencing may not be at an all-time high anymore but it’s part of the fabric of work now in a way it wasn’t before. The focus on mental health continues, and ecommerce rates remain well above pre-pandemic levels today.
Other changes have been rolled back in ways that are more troubling. For example, remote work was an amazing opportunity for companies to be more flexible and to help employees achieve better work-life balance without compromising productivity – and sometimes even improving it.
Certainly, the data on remote work productivity is mixed; broad analysis suggests that “the relationship between remote work and labour productivity varies significantly by sector,” and that the effect depends greatly on the type of tasks workers are doing. But instead of carefully weighing the pros and cons and tailoring their approach, many employers have simply pushed hard for everyone to return to the office, resulting in noncompliance, quits (including from managers who don’t agree with RTO policies) and even early retirements.
Meanwhile, Forbes reports 98 per cent of workers want to work remotely at least some of the time. So now we live in a space where many people who want flexibility can’t get it and companies are not sure how to manage – at times worsening their own bottom line. It’s confusing for everyone.
Also, much like after the Spanish flu, people are now more reluctant to talk about COVID-19. As scholar Rebecca Katz says, “The bigger the outbreak, the bigger the peak of panic and then the bigger the fall into neglect.”
Government authorities are much quieter about the ongoing risk levels and providing little guidance about how to manage it. That means employers now need to come up with their own policies about how to handle illness in the workplace.
COVID-19 has left us with a mixed legacy: a leap forward for business innovation of all kinds, followed by a partial rollback. Strategic wins combined with drastic losses. And major failures whose consequences are still unfolding, such as the erosion of public trust in authorities.
I don’t think it’s too late for us to carry forward the lessons we learned from this most recent pandemic. For example, it’s important to invest in technology and digital innovation before you need them – that way, you can pivot quickly when an emergency arises.
I also firmly believe in the value of remote work, when strategically managed. And I think it’s crucial that we continue to take employee health seriously, including mental health. All of these things require that we lean into flexibility as a core value for managing businesses.
Above all, we need to keep talking about the issues that came up when COVID-19 initially struck – such as health risks in team settings, how much in-person office time is really necessary in a given job, flexibility in the face of crisis and accommodations for employees’ health and caregiving needs – and actively strategizing and managing for them as they shift over time. Let’s not make this our second forgotten pandemic.
This column is part of Globe Careers’ Leadership Lab series, where executives and experts share their views and advice about the world of work. Find all Leadership Lab stories at tgam.ca/leadershiplab and guidelines for how to contribute to the column here.