Human resource (HR) managers are facing more challenges in this post-covid world.
Professionals now have to tackle an elevated mental health crisis, economic uncertainty, retention and retrenchments.
Let’s take a closer look at the key areas HR needs to focus on to avoid further disruptions and employee discontent, as shared by Forbes.
Employees’ welfare
Despite being highly connected through technology, the onset of remote working has left a lot of uncertainty for employees.
HR has to manage expectations and maintain a sustainable work-life for employees. Changes in work life can create more conflicts or affect mental health in different ways.
Clear communication and open channels are ways to step up HR services. By being transparent, HR can engage employees, foster better conversations, and clear up any doubts on rumours.
Job security
With the news of workers being laid off, HR has to quell the job security unrest brewing among employees.
Even if there are layoffs to come, HR can provide support and answers on employee termination and share the compensation benefits.
HR can also plan a consistent and equitable retrenchment exercise and not have employees leave with unfairness feelings. They can do so by having a measurable criterion, assessment tests if possible, to quantify who gets to stay or go.
For the employees not affected by the layoffs, they can receive moral support and minimise guilt.
Streamline operational excellence
While many boundaries have been broken down to keep businesses running as usual, now as the Covid-19 pandemic has stabilised, HR and the management can relook at the snap decisions made are meant to stay.
Surveys can be done to look at the efficiencies of new protocols and employee satisfaction of new operation models.
By gathering feedback and evaluation, companies can monitor costs and avoid unnecessarily ongoing digitisation that can become ineffective in the long run.
