What will the 4th wave of Covid-19 look like in Poland?

So far, Poland has seen two major spikes of Covid-19, with the third one barely present. After that, things have been quiet since late spring 2021, as seen on the Worldometers graph below.

Lockdown still remains the worst-case scenario. One that will empty all offices again. Lock away the workers at their homes, together with children whose schools will be closed too. Is Poland prepared for such a turn of events?

'Yes' seems to be the correct answer. Even though no one is looking forward to the new restrictions, we are ready to work and study online again. It is worth noting that we have been learning from our own mistakes for the last 18 months. We have been perfecting our remote and hybrid solutions. We introduced several online platforms to enhance our business and educational capabilities.

Digital solutions facilitate remote learning and working

Looking at Testportal, the online tool for professional skills and knowledge assessment, it is easy to demonstrate how effective and user-friendly new tools are. Their features improve digital workflow and learning, leading to substantial benefits, time-saving and automation of many processes being just some of them.

Ever since the outbreak of the pandemic, such tools have seen use by educational institutions of all levels. HR and training professionals have adopted it too as an invaluable aid in their daily duties. Let us analyse how those sectors performed before and what their future might hold. With or without the 4th wave of Covid-19.

Elementary, middle, high and higher education

The necessity to give up proven work standards threw teachers in at the deep end. Initially, all was not well. The students, their parents and the teachers themselves contested the quality of digital classes. Fortunately, the latter were thrown a lifeline in the form of online tools supporting digital education.

With the help of advanced learning assessment platforms, teachers and academics were able to optimise their efforts. Automated grading and tests analysis pointing to the strengths and weaknesses of students reduced the paperwork and allowed their teachers more time for teaching. Paradoxically, remote education empowered them to be closer to their disciples.

Teachers changed their education plans from face-to-face to remote. Should the circumstances require them to go back to online classes, they now have both the experience and materials at hand. Furthermore, advanced teaching support solutions have already forced a change in the assessment methods.

Today, it seems easier to introduce the formative assessment not as a novelty, but rather as a nationwide basis for evaluation. The advantages of this solution are obvious. First of all, it gives all students detailed feedback on their knowledge, strengths and weaknesses. It assesses but doesn't discourage hard work, quite on the contrary. The foundation of the new way lies in appreciating students' efforts. Positive motivation allows them to concentrate on achieving, rather than focus on failing. Regardless of what the pandemic situation might look like in the late summer and early autumn, this will be a change for the best.

HR and online recruitment

Covid-19 resulted in a massive switch to online recruitments. Despite the pandemic, firms still had to employ new staff, and online solutions smoothly replaced paper applications used before. Online tools helped a lot by offering thorough handling of the process.

They served more purposes than just recruitment. All the tasks of HR departments, including periodical workforce evaluations, maintaining qualifications or gathering feedback, could be done automatically. Even in the case of companies with hundreds of employees, those processes could be controlled by one person and from their home office. Advanced algorithms offered simplicity and automation, freeing HR teams to other duties.

Obviously, those solutions are here to stay, the 4th wave of Covid-19 or not. Online tools offer significant savings of time and money. They are also exceedingly comfortable for recruiters and applicants alike, so neither group is likely to give them up.

Online training

Subsequent lockdowns forced Polish firms from the traditional market to the internet wherever it was possible. Traditional training was no longer an option and moved online as well.

Continuous employee development, gaining new skills and competencies is a necessity for every modern organization that aims at being competitive.

This type of development had been depreciated before, considered inferior to face-to-face meetings with tutors. However, after some initial problems, internet training gained momentum. It turned out that even though the internet offered hardly any real interpersonal connections, those trainings were excellent in substance. In the virtual classroom, time could be used to the last minute, without external interruptions. But most of all, with the use of reliable online assessment tools.

Such platforms became bread and butter for the training professionals. Testportal was exceptionally handy as it offered advanced data collection algorithms to evaluate tutors and prove value to the companies paying for the training.

The end of lockdown and the return of traditional training did not diminish the attractiveness of online tutoring. Financial advantages and the simplicity of work supported by online tools gave the business a valuable lesson. And so, if the 4th wave comes, the whole sector will effortlessly switch to virtual activity again. This time, however, with the experience of 2020 and half of 2021, it will offer clients even better quality.

Advantages that will outlive COVID-19

Skills and knowledge acquired during the pandemic by educational, business, central and local government institutions will be immensely beneficial when it is over. One day, the sooner, the better, Covid-19 will be little less than a bad dread. We will all forget about social distancing and facemasks. What will remain is the modern, digital work and learning environment, and the flexibility to rapidly move from desks and workstations to a remote or hybrid environment.

Online tools will stay with us as well, with all of their features that make work and education online so much easier. Using them will be by more efficient, better-trained employees and teachers. Working smarter, not harder, and capable of better work-life balance.