HUMAN RESOURCES Transition to Business By Paul Falcone
Setting Career Expectations for 2021 Happy New Year, and welcome to 2021! 2020 was a challenging year for so many of us for so many reasons, and part of HR’s job is to serve as a bit of a “corporate futurist” in discussing expectations for the following year with employees and team members.
2021
In the December ’20 issue last month, I chose to write about macro trends coming our way on so many different fronts—the promise of new technology, trends and patterns in demographics, and how to adopt those guideposts in launching your own career trajectory, either into the private sector or within the military. After all, demographics is destiny, artificial intelligence and other forms of innovation will create more job opportunities than we can likely imagine, and studying those trends makes for smart career sense so you can maximize career opportunities that come your way. New Year - New You Mindset
“SOX”
For the January issue, we now have to consider some of the micro issues that will likely show themselves this year. As the saying goes, hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Unfortunately, the most likely projection for 2021 will be more of 2020. I practice human resources in healthcare at a residential care facility for the elderly. Fighting the COVID virus has been front and center on my and our leadership team’s minds for the past year. Day in and day out, our goal was to protect our residents and patients from infection, knowing that citizens living in retirement homes make up only 0.4% of the U.S. population but account for 40% of COVID-related deaths. We exited 2020 with the release of COVID vaccinations from Pfizer and Moderna, which bring with them the promise for an end to this pandemic and a return to normalcy. But setting your expectations appropriately is important as we launch into 2021: masking and social distancing will still be necessary for the foreseeable future. After all, we’re still not sure how long the new vaccine will last and what the reinfection rate might look like. Further, you should brace yourself for much controversy over the vaccine itself. Politicians who have argued against it now stand first in line to receive it. U.S. workers want it desperately, except for those who fear its “warp speed” creation timeline and therefore doubt its safety. Factor in antivaxxers and those who refuse to take the vaccine on political grounds, and simply know that the logistical rollout of the vaccine might take longer than otherwise expected. There’s no judgment here: simply an objective observation of what lies ahead. Now do the math: 330 million Americans theoretically require two doses of the vaccine. We’re talking over a half billion doses, and the logistics surrounding a number that large— even if everything goes without a hitch—will take the good part of a year. So, take a deep breath and relax. Understand that this is a two-year process all in, not a one-year process, and find your peace of mind in knowing that we’ll get through this as a nation, as we’ve done before through wars and stock market crashes and other exigencies.
48
WWW.HomelandMagazine.com / JANUARY 2021