The Corona Virus Outbreak- Things you can do for Career Development as an Employee Working from Home.

by Michael O' Adetu

As researchers and experts in virology work round the clock to come up with the cure for the outbreak of Corona Virus (COVID- 19), organizations are already confronted with the tough decision to make their employees work from home to curtail the spread of the virus. This pandemic virus as recently declared by the WHO once again reminds us all of the undeniable usefulness of the 21st-century technologies.  The impact of this outbreak is currently being felt by everyone and we probably need to start having a conversation about the post-pandemic impact of this virus outbreak. How can you as an employee productively use your time when working from home during this period of Coronavirus outbreak? I have put together the list of things you could do that can be of great benefit to you personally, in your career and family. Here are the lists

Learn and Build Capacity

You can use your time more productively during this period to learn and build capacity. You know yourself better than anyone else and if you will be honest with yourself, you probably know the areas in which you lack capacity with regards to your role at work. This might be an opportunity for you to embark on a journey of self-study. If you need to sign up for a short course online, do it. If you need to arrange coaching moments with a senior colleague who is an expert in the areas you are not, do it. If you need to get a certain certification during this period, get it.

Personal Reflection 

We are currently living in a busy world with immense workplace pressure and stress. You need to care for yourself and make your wellbeing a priority. This short period could be a good time for you to reflect on your attitude towards your general wellbeing and make a decision on what action you are going to take. Your mental health and stress level is important when it comes to performance on the job. Take out time to think through about your attitude towards your general wellbeing and how this is affecting your work. Having time alone to yourself is one of the magical moments to reflect on your actions and pick up important lessons.

Spend Quality Time with your Loved Ones

Amid the chaos, there are opportunities. Opportunity to bond with your kids, opportunity to spend more time with your partner, opportunity to spend more time with your parents, opportunity to care for your loved ones and opportunity to pick up your phone to check up on people you have not heard from for a long time. Often time, people take association for granted and do not appreciate relationships enough. You do not have to wait until when a relationship is taken away from you before you understand how important it is. You have been busy in the past weeks, take this period to bond, merry and demonstrate how much the people you love mean to you.

A coronavirus outbreak will go eventually. The researchers working around the clock will get a cure and everything else will return to business as usual. What you do during this period can have a huge impact that can last a lifetime. It is not enough to allow your heart to be filled with the things you see on media; train yourself to always see the opportunities in every chaos.