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Remote work prompts decline in demand for personal grooming products
Work from home taking a toll
Mahmudul Hasan
When the multinational company Shaker Hossain introduced work from home option from the third week of March, just as the rogue coronavirus was gaining a foothold in the country, he was beside himself with relief.
Relief that he no longer would have to sit through the Dhaka traffic for two hours on his commute to and from work; relief that he has fewer chances of catching the deadly virus now.
After a few days of working remotely, the novelty soon wore off. And in its place entered insomnia, backache, weight gain, restlessness, stress and anxiety.
“It has just become a 24-hour job for me,” said the mid-level employee at the multinational company.
He now opens his laptop at 9 am and shuts its lid at midnight as his bosses are giving him work, one after another.
“The day and the night seem the same to me now. A strange sense of ennui has taken hold of my life,” he said, adding that his output is not satisfactory when compared with his input.
Still, he is putting up with his bosses’ whims as the fear of losing his job looms large on his mind. Many of his friends from his business school have been furloughed or laid off recently.
Like Hossain, hundreds and thousands of jobholders are going through the gamut of emotions as companies shut office operations after the nationwide shutdown was announced from 26.
Initially imposed for 10 days, the shutdown has been extended thrice as the coronavirus caseload escalated in the country. At present, the shutdown will be effective until May 16.
The sedentary lifestyle that Tariqul Islam Khan, a deputy general manager at the Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla), leads means he has gained 5 kilograms in weight in the last 40 days.
While working in his office space, he would be attending meetings and interacting with people. But, now, absolutely everything has gone virtual and managing it that way is proving to be highly stressful for him.
“Stress and anxiety are such things that can devastate any one’s life. My blood pressure is constantly fluctuating and I can’t sleep at night,” said Khan, who also suffers from Type 2 diabetes.
And it is not just the middle-aged jobholders who are finding the new working arrangement difficult to get a handle on.
Munir Momtaj, a young sub-editor at a news portal, working remotely was immensely enjoyable at first and did not mind doing twice the normal amount of work.
“But my life feels monotonous now without going outside for days on end,” he said, while expressing an overwhelming sense of anxiety of when normalcy would return to his life.
To make matters worse, the distressing news on the novel coronavirus pandemic is also taking a toll on the mental health of people.
Sharmin Ahmed, a faculty member of the University of Dhaka, thought she would be working on her academic interest with the free time she has been afforded for the suspension of classes.
“But I can’t concentrate on my work. So many people, including some of my students, are in such distress and it is hampering my research work,” she added.
The tremendous strain that jobholders are now battling for homeworking and overall sense of doom has given rise to calls from clinical psychologists for employers to be a little sensitive and reassuring.
Many people are now suffering from depression because of the fear of getting infected with the virus, fear of an uncertain professional future and economic vulnerability, said Mohammad Hossain, professor at the neurosurgery department of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.
“People need to be assured of economic safety. For that, a concerted effort of the government and the riches are needed,” he added.
Kazi Inam Ahmed, a director at Gemcon Group that has introduced work from home from March 18, though is looking at the bright side.
“I personally feel holding meetings over Zoom makes them more efficient. Maybe the biggest positive from this is we might learn to do more work from home, which means, considering the Dhaka traffic we can also spend more time with our families,” he added.
Ahsan Habib
The pandemic is changing the way we present ourselves to the world.
Weeks into the countrywide general shutdown and coronavirus is starting to lay waste to basic personal grooming routines as we are told to stay home and work remotely if possible.
People are washing their hair less often, going makeup-free, putting off shaving and even abandoning deodorant, according to supermarkets and fast-moving consumer goods companies.
Take the case of Samirah Rahman, who works at a foreign non-governmental organisation. She said she has not used any cosmetics in the last one-and-a-half month at least as she does not need to go to work or do the school run.
“I may have even forgotten how to use an eyeliner,” she added.
Last month, makeup giant L’Oréal said the global cosmetics market was down 8 per cent in the first quarter as consumers pulled back on skincare and beauty products.
Unilever reported along these lines. The Anglo-Dutch company said the lockdown had affected its haircare portfolio in China and India, while skincare sales were also down.
Its Chief Financial Officer Graeme Pitkethly said people were spending “more time at home, more time cooking” and maybe has “less personal care occasions” now.
Didarul Alom, a high official of a multinational company, also said he let his grooming standards slip.
He has not been using any deodorant or hair gel since the lockdown started as he is confined at home. “I am not shaving either, so shaving gel and after-shaving products are not needed any more,” he added.
“Our cosmetic products sales are almost zero now,” said Md Iqbal Hossain, head of business of ACI logistics, which runs the supermarket chain Shwapno.
Normally, people use the colour cosmetics when they go out, but now that they are confined to home, so these products are of no use. Colour cosmetics includes eyeliner, eye shadow, foundation, face powder, lipstick, nail polish etc.
However, personal cleaning products like soap and hand wash sales have doubled between March 8 and April 25, he said. Shampoo sales also surged 40 per cent, Hossain added.
“Hygiene products are now mostly demanded by the customers,” said Christabel Randolph, company secretary of Marico Bangladesh.
The Mumbai-based FMCG company that operates in the beauty and wellness space started operations in Bangladesh in 2000 with its flagship brand ‘Parachute’ coconut oil.
“Soap and shampoo sales remain strong. But pure cosmetic products are not doing well,” Randolph added.