Key Areas Which HR Departments Must Focus in Post COVID-19 Period
In 2020 most of the companies transformed their workplace to virtual workplace because of the global pandemic. Graduations, weddings, travelling and all the other events has been cancelled because of the deadly virus. Because of the social distancing and other strict health guidelines, most of the people are now desperate for normalcy again, but there are still dark sides in the post COVID situation. Some regions and even countries are experiencing increasing trends of cases and some are not. Therefore, governments cannot take a proper decision to make attempts to reopen. Since this is not the first pandemic situation that the world is facing, still we cannot predict the outcomes because we are still in the middle stage of the pandemic. But this pandemic will change most of the business models, buying patterns and behaviours. As an example, now E-commerce platforms are gaining faster growth than the traditional way of selling after the pandemic. Therefore, with the ‘New Normal’ situation, HR departments also need to make certain changes to their HR policies and activities to keep their workforce motivated and connected to carry out the business as usual.
Practising more remote work
Most of the companies are now practising remote work because most of the industries are impacted because of the pandemic. Companies who started working from home proved that it is more productive, successful, and collaborative than they imagined. As remote work has significantly increased benefits to both employers and employees, currently main players in different business sectors are adopting to working from home culture which helps them to increase productivity and better work-life balance. Adobe, Amazon, Facebook, Capital One, Mastercard, Microsoft and PayPal are some of the industry leaders who are practising remote work. It is time for organisations to decide to continue work from home because it helps to reduce the operational cost as well.
Flexible working hours
The most common perk which employees are focusing on is flexibility while working from home. If the employer is not willing to give that to their employees, they might think working remotely is useless. Organisations need to help their employees to find a schedule, which works best for them. Sometimes harsh time frames will affect employee productivity. Employers need to encourage employees to be more productive by introducing them with sustainable practices like time management. At the end of the day, your employees will achieve their goals and maintain the standards of performance for the organisation.
Implement advanced wellness programs
This pandemic has impacted heavily on the physical, mental, and financial aspect of many people. Due to that employees are now expecting different types of perks from the organisation. According to the recent study done by Mercer found that 19% of the companies are now planning on offering financial wellness support and 24% of the organisations are planning to expand their health support. Helping your employees to stay healthy in the post COVID period will help organisations to improve their employee satisfaction and productivity.
