May 3, 2021
On Saturday, Indian billionaire Adar Poonawalla made international headlines when he told the Times of London that he had moved to the UK “for an extended period of time.” The move, which Poonawalla justified as an effort to be with his wife and children and to evade a grave threat to his life in India, happened just before the UK stopped all Indian nationals from arriving in the country because of its high number of Covid-19 cases.
Poonawalla, who does not appear to be a UK citizen, is not the only wealthy Indian to flee the country other businesspeople, as well as Bollywood stars and cricketers, have also left, many on private jets. Even before the pandemic, the world’s wealthy have seemed to move wherever they want, no matter the visa restrictions that would otherwise inhibit the rest of us. Though a person’s visa status is sometimes a sensitive issue, the wealthy often have pathways available to them for legal migration that the rest of the world does not.
Companies have asked a lot of managers during the last year.
Team leaders have been tasked with keeping subordinates motivated and productive in the midst of a global pandemic, all while maintaining a steady presence as the ground has shifted beneath them. They’ve not only had to manage their teams, but also the shift to remote work, the vitally important conversations around race and equality this year has prompted, and the impact the pandemic has had on their personal lives.
Recently published research quantifies the impact of the pandemic on managers’ mental health in its early months. Researchers from Germany, Australia, and the US surveyed almost 650 managers in 49 countries last May to assess their levels of stress, anxiety, and depression, and the major contributing risk factors. The age, income, work status of the managers, as well as the level of instability at their companies, were all seen as predictors of of those conditions.