If you are an HR professional, you probably know the way things have changed in the last six months, and the increased set of expectations from the HR teams. It doesn’t matter which industry you belong to, as an HR professional, the onus is on the HR department to handle the new set of workforce-related challenges posed by the COVID pandemic.
Whether it’s about bridging the gap between the remote workforce and the top management, or is it about arranging for then remote communication software for the staff, HR professionals are at the forefront. Besides, ensuring safety of workforce from the deadly disease too, has become one of the job duties of HR personnel in the ongoing times of crisis. Other forms of increased workload on HR teams in the times of corona-hit economy comprise dealing with layoffs, managing cultural shifts, and making adjustments in employee compensations.
How Has the US Workforce Been Affected with the Pandemic?
As per a recent survey carried out by get Abstract, 43% of the US corporate workforce showed their liking towards remote work, and would like to continue with the same even after the pandemic comes to an end. They cited a certain set of benefits against the said liking for WFH policy that comprise absence of daily commute to work, increased work flexibility, and improved productivity.
31% of the US workforce, as per the said survey, said that they don’t expect the ongoing work flexibility to continue post pandemic as and when we move into the future of work. Further, 26% expect from their respective employers to extend the ongoing degree of work flexibility post the crisis, while 20% said that they have already heard similar talks happening among the top management in their respective organizations.
What Do the Top HR Leaders Have to Say About the Impact of COVID
The global HR leadership have their own thoughts regarding the adversities of COVID on the organizational workforce and productivity. Moving ahead, we will explore their mind set and approach towards managing operations of the business, and ensuring minimal loss of work productivity. We will dig into the new HR challenges that have recently come up amid the pandemic, and have forced CHROs and senior HR managers to get on their toes.
Switch to Remote Work
As soon as the virus-spread touched its peak across the globe, CHROs quickly issued the WFH (work-from-home) guidelines to restrict the spread of the deadly virus at the workplaces. This led to a sudden increase in the workload of the mid-level HR leader roles. In the new environment, mid-level managers are supposed to not only delegate work but to also ensure it being done remotely with optimal efficiency. A majority of them are still struggling to cope up with the virtual work environment. It’s certainly testing times for them.
Leadership in HR Struggling with Work-Life Balance
Setting work-life boundaries apart has been a challenging proposition for the HR leaders off late, provided that they now need to manage their teams remotely under the new WFH policy. They are supposed to exploit the new communication tech and the related tools to connect with their team members. Team meetings are being conducted on Zoom video calls which is a communication software.
Even the smallest of work-related doubts are to be discussed using communication tech tools. Meanwhile, it’s been established long ago that remote working is here to last much longer than what we have had expected initially, at the starting of the COVID phase.
L&D and Reskilling of the Workforce amid Corona Pandemic
In the times of massive adoption of varied kind of new technologies to ensure organizational productivity remains constant throughout the pandemic, companies need to do everything possible to train employees on new software tools & systems. CHROs and HR leaders, especially, need to ensure that their workforce is constantly getting trained on new tools and software frameworks that come in daily use to submit work deliverables. This way productivity will not be off thrown in any regard, and the business will seamlessly thrive in the new virtual work ecosystem.
