Why HR is more important than ever during COVID-19 Pandemic
Covid-19 has undoubtedly fast-tracked all businesses into the fourth industrial revolution and will continue to be the driving force that shapes the world of work. Human Resource professionals have a critical strategic role to play in this evolution. The context requires HR to be involved in both designing and implementing strategies to support business survival and be the caretaker of employee’s interests and concerns. This requires a heroic balancing act. So far, the last 13 weeks have been a challenging journey of reactive change and now as the new normal settles in as our new reality we need to think of the long-term impact of these changes and plans to optimise where possible.
Supporting the journey to our new normal consciously:
• The Scientific approach: Gather meaningful data within organisations to make informed and effective decisions and measure the outcome of interventions. Data collection is a mechanism through which effective change interventions can be determined, implemented, and evaluated.
• Technology; front and center: COVID-19 has amplified remote working and has resulted in the automation of and changes in work processes. HR need to encourage leaders who have struggled to adopt technological resources and upskill on how to lead remote teams- an art in and of itself.
• Repurpose leadership development: Programmes need to be reconstructed to continue to develop the critical skills required by leaders in our new reality. Leaders are required to guide organisations through times of turbulence and uncertainty and coach their employees and teams to manage the ongoing, dynamic, unpredictable, and disruptive technologically driven business environment.
• Talent Engagement: Highly dispersed teams and workforces, the changing nature of roles and disruption within our organisations impact employee engagement and demands a clear strategy to retain your top talent. Leaders need to identify and track the impact of these changes on employee engagement and effectively implement strategies to sustain talent engagement.
• Learning Culture: Remote working and the dramatic change in the business landscape requires agility and a learning culture in which employees are self-driven, encouraged and provided with the mechanisms to develop the skills. Deploy a new online learning portal rather than put training on hold for that ever elusive “when we get back to the office” phase. Omnicor has found Udemy to be a very powerful platform
• Change Management: Change Management tools and techniques provide the bridge between the solutions and the results. Implement effective change management with each intervention to enable employees to better transition. The ability to effectively manage change and adapt will assist organisations in surviving the rapidly changing market, providing organisations with a competitive edge.
If you would like to understand how COVID-19 has impacted your team’s overall engagement and productivity , contact me
Amelia@omnicor.co.za
