Post-COVID-19 Transformations for Future of Work and Small Business Sustainability

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has created shockwaves across the globe and impacted businesses and economies. Enormous disruptive transformations have happened in the work models and systems to enable businesses to flexibly operate, sustain, and remain agile in uncertain times. The future of work, which seemed uncertain post-pandemic, has reached normalcy due to the organisational resilience and strategic responses shown by organisational leaders and small businesses. Although small businesses across the world have been impacted negatively leading to closures, financial crunches, and job losses worldwide, many have shown signs of resilience and recovery. The chapter throws light on the work transformations across economies and strategic responses to deal with them. It describes the challenges faced by various small businesses and the way they have been flexible and resilient. The chapter proposes a framework for building an inclusive economy that has been asserted to be the solution to a sustainable and resilient future in times of uncertainties and crises.