In the latest issue of the NICEC Journal, editors Fiona Christie, Eileen Cunningham and Kath Houston turn their attention to the coronavirus, how it is changing the way that we work and how career guidance might respond to it. They have given us permission to reproduce their piece on this site.

The Covid-19 pandemic emerged at the same time as we prepared for final publication of this edition of the journal. Our themes of decent work and uncertainty have been amplified by the crisis to an extent we could never have imagined possible. The extraordinary nature of this global pandemic compelled us to want to include some concluding thoughts about Covid-19, career guidance and decent work. We write here about it from our English context, but expect our comments may be relevant to readers in other nations.

It is too early to know for sure how Covid-19 will affect work and careers. We must recognise the gravity of what the current situation means for working lives, but also resist doom-mongering that risks creating its own self-fulfilling prophecy. Commentators from within and outside our field have already begun to debate causes of and responses to the spreading of the virus. The UN’s environment chief, Inger Andersen points to environmental degradation as being a direct cause of its emergence. Hooley, Sultana and Thomsen argue that many capitalist societies with their focus on economics and market principles are ill-prepared for a health emergency which needs strong social safety nets to protect  workers and citizens.  

In the UK, we have witnessed some heartening responses to the virus that relate to work. Suddenly it became important to determine the definition of a ‘key worker’, which has made us all reflect upon the importance of many workers we usually take for granted. For example, low-waged supermarket staff and delivery drivers have been recognised as having an essential status alongside nurses and doctors.   However, more negatively, the political legacy of the Brexit policy means there are shortages of ‘key workers’, e.g., social carers and agricultural workers.

The profound connection between each of us and our local communities, our nation and the rest of the world is impossible to ignore. The virus rides on the coat tails of globalisation and has been carried across the world with international travellers. Margaret Thatcher’s claim that there is ‘no such thing as society’ has been exposed as absurd. The virus demands a collective and societal response. The Covid-19 pandemic has led to the collision of our lives as workers, as citizens and as family members (or equivalent). We have experienced this as editors; while working to finalise this journal, we have separately been dealing with home-schooling children, caring for very vulnerable relatives, and managing our own anxieties. We all hold multiple identities and it seems ridiculous to ignore how these are interconnected. More generally, this exposes the fault lines in assumptions about people as rational career actors. The current crisis has highlighted the impossibility of seeing work as anything other than profoundly connected to our lives as a whole.

Uncertainty will be a very real feature of working lives for many people because of the virus. Some will lose their jobs; some businesses even with government support may never re-open. The incomes of particular groups, e.g. self-employed workers appear particularly at risk.  A concern for us as editors working in higher education is the challenge the post-virus world will represent for those who are just starting out in their careers. Many of those in more secure work will have work rapidly transformed, as practices such as travelling long distances for face-to-face meetings will be questioned, as workers get more accustomed to technology.

The principles of decent work can help society re-build and recover from this crisis. Those principles are: creating productive and freely chosen work; protecting rights at work; ensuring social protection for workers; and enabling social dialogue between workers and employers. Such ideas can help us move forwards in a world that will never be the same after this crisis. Career guidance can play an important part in supporting these principles.

Career practitioners will be crucial in helping individuals to navigate the uncertainty that will follow the Covid-19 crisis. The establishment of a universal right for all citizens to access careers advice and guidance would help workers in managing careers that have been derailed and disrupted. This advice can include everything from the practicalities of self-employment, to coping with redundancy, as well as making career decisions and all aspects of career management. The recent turn to careers guidance for social justice is timely in arguing that career practitioners should be agents of change in pointing out unfairness and advocating for the most vulnerable. It is not enough for us to default to a focus on helping people to compete with each other for a few sought after jobs. We should be arguing for there to be decent and meaningful work for all, not just the lucky few who may have the resources to surf the Covid-19 tidal wave.