Southern Indiana Business July-August 2020 | Page 13

A year from now, what’s new will become normal
Fast forward one year, and Dant Chesser believes that challenges
businesses face today, such as the addition of face masks,
shields, temperature checks, and social distancing, will be
accepted as normal. She likened it to flying right after 9/11, when
all the airport security measures that were put in place seemed
so foreign. Now, she said, people are accustomed to previously
strange rituals like removing their shoes and limiting liquids.
And here in Southern Indiana, the way the future plays out
will also depend on the labor market. Dant Chesser said it was
tight to begin with, and post-pandemic it will be even tighter
because the skill set will change. A restaurant worker, for example,
who was laid off might be able to find work in a manufacturing
plant, but won’t have the necessary skill set. “None of them
can operate a CNC machine,” she said. “It’s going to be unlike
anything we’ve seen thus far.”
The shift may lead to larger discussions about the role of
public education and certifications and training for skilled labor
jobs. And even if some businesses don’t survive, Dant Chesser
wondered if those displaced employees will be able, or willing,
to make such a large lifestyle shift.
For Cimtech, Young said it’s likely that onsite visits will never
come back. “I miss face-to-face interaction dearly,” she said.
“But we’ve always placed a focus on safety,” including handwashing
and staying home if you feel sick. “Those measures
will not go away, that’s just a really good best practice. I don’t
see why you would let up on any of those.”
At MESA Kids Cooking School, Martino said they’re taking
this opportunity to move into a new space that’s being designed
with social distancing in mind, including more distance between
chairs. Martino said she hopes to resume in-person classes in
July, but the online videos and meal kits will stay.
“COVID did two things for us,” Martino said. “One thing is I
don’t think we realized what a blessing it was because it caused
us to make a choice and think on our feet, move quickly and
make changes that we were nervous about in the past.”
She also said that it’s caused them to rethink their existence as
a company in terms of how they can affect the community positively.
“Does that mean we need to be cleaner, or offer smaller
classes?” she said. “This has completely changed our outlook
for the better.”
For Denzinger Family Dentistry, the additional steps they’ve
taken to ensure a clean environment aren’t just temporary, either.
“I think we’re permanently better in terms of some of these
safety measures,” Rowe said. “Nobody knows what the future
will bring, but we’ll deal with that when it comes along.”
July / August 2020
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