‘The pandemic accelerated the hybrid workforce trend by several years’ – 30 quotes from India’s COVID-19 struggle

Launched in 2014, StoryBites is a weekly feature from YourStory, featuring notable quotable quotes in our articles of this past week. This special series of compilations focuses on India’s COVID-19 struggle (see last week’s post here). Share these quotes and excerpts with your networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights.

The pandemic reduced barriers for digital wellness coaching and DIY methods. - Abhilesh Gupta, AyuRythm

Covering the cost of vaccination for our employees and their dependent family members is a small gesture from the organisation to express our gratitude to our employees. - Vinay Razdan, HDFC Bank

While this vaccine is voluntary, it is also one of the most effective tools to fight against COVID-19. - Varun Dubey, Ola

Since the arrival of the vaccine, people have started going out, and they can be seen indulging in retail therapy. - Sachin Kharbanda, Lakshita Fashions Pvt. Ltd. 

The arrival of vaccines is seeding the ideas of revenge spending and revenge tourism in people’s minds. - Bala Parthasarathy, MoneyTap

The pandemic called for drastic changes not only in the way we live, but forced society into introspection, questioning current scenarios, and planning fresh beginnings. - Ishana Girish, Chitra Santhe

As a global community, we must come together and use every tool at our disposal to stop this pandemic. - Earl Blumenauer, US lawmaker

Uncertainty is part of a business, and we can always take actions to mitigate those risks. - Jigmet Diskit, Namza Couture

2020 has been a year of hard truths. This is a wake-up call to reimagine our approach towards strategic and collaborative philanthropy and the impact it can have. The case for family philanthropy is clear and so is its transformational potential. - Dinkar Ayilavarapu, Bain & Company

The pandemic aggravated the exclusions that young people face. - Ashraf Patel, ComMutiny

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Affordability is a huge issue, especially since the salaried class has been hurt during the pandemic. Insurance players need to do better so that consumers can find it easier to purchase. - Sarbvir Singh, PolicyBazaar

When we get through this crisis, new ideas will flow and it will give a new discourse to the world of art. - Tiarma Sirait, Chitra Santhe

When discussing the economy and the larger scheme of things, art and artists are the last things that people think about when COVID-19 took a sharp turn. - Srishti Jindal

The pandemic gave women the flexibility they were asking for years! - Neha Bagaria, JobsForHer

2020 has been the transformative year in the history of Indian ecommerce because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Something that would have taken three-five years in terms of consumer acquisition and penetration happened in just one year. - LocalCirclessurvey

Growth in deal volume signalled strong fundamentals for India's startup ecosystem with new business models keeping pace with the challenges seen in 2020. - Bain & Company, India Venture Capital Report

The gaming sector in India is booming and the pandemic has further fast-tracked the adoption of video. - Bipin Shah, Titan Capital

Despite the global challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we are seeing a steady influx of aspiring Indian entrepreneurs keen to build their dream tech startups. - Esha Tiwary, Entrepreneur First

The new-age, digitally savvy Indian commuter has a fast-rising disposable income, albeit with COVID headwinds, and expects a connected experience in all spheres of life. - Shailesh Gupta, Yolobus

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There is a long journey ahead for the small and medium businesses of the country to bolster and rise above the recent economic storm. - Nikhil Arora, GoDaddy India

Mindsets also changed after COVID-19. Customers were willing to look at a parent-based offering because parents were at home and children could use their phones to learn. - Jairaj Bhattacharya, ConveGenius

The pandemic has accelerated the use of both ecommerce, as well as technology. - Rajiv Kumar, StoreHippo

Even during the challenging times of a global pandemic, the logistics industry has worked round the clock to deliver above and beyond the SLAs expected. - Santosh Desai, Blowhorn

As times progress, we see a V-shaped recovery in the influencer marketing landscape. - Ashutosh Harbola, Buzzoka

The pandemic has altered the way we shop, the way we travel, and the way we work. But mostly, it has changed the way we seek entertainment. This is habit-forming. - Nikkhil Advani, Emmay Entertainment and Motion Pictures

In many ways, COVID pulled forward the future that technology companies have been building. Behaviours that would have taken decades to go mainstream were normalised in a matter of weeks. - Sequoia

ICT became a critical enabler in the face of the pandemic. Be it remote learning for students, public health, or even online banking, secure and reliable connectivity is now indispensable to facilitate remote working. - Priya Mahajan, Verizon Business Group

We foresee a hybrid model, where the same event will be held virtually and physically, simultaneously. - Vaibhav Jain, Hubilo

The pandemic accelerated the hybrid workforce trend by several years. This is the new normal and nobody's likely to go back. - Rahul Bhargava, InCred

YourStory has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android).