2020 saw a paradigm shift in the way the businesses operate. Pandemic forced organisations to adopt work from home as a norm as travel restrictions & social distancing rules took precedence. Companies realised that remote working has a positive impact on the efficiency and productivity. Thus, hybrid or remote workforce provides a lot of direct and indirect financial benefits.
In view of this, all the departments are working towards strategies that take into account remotely or digitally connected workforce being an integral part of the total workforce for any organisation.
As lockdown restrictions are eased and employees are returning to the new normal, HR department has been mandated with the task of designing strategies that take into consideration a Physically Separated – Digitally Connected workforce.
Here are some HR strategies for a physically separated, digitally connected workforce.
1) Unlimited Talent pool: No longer do the Hiring managers need to limit their talent search to the location of their office or pay hefty relocation allowances. Remote working allows employees to work from anywhere with the same or higher level of efficiency and productivity. This opens up a larger pool of skilled global talent ready to be hired. With location restrictions gone, skills play a more important role in the selection process. Going ahead, hiring strategies will move towards adopting more agile, skill-based approach with a good mix of onsite & remote employees.
2) Employee experience: Going ahead, HR will have to redefine their strategies to focus more on Employee Experience. Companies looking for best skilled talent will have to create and maintain an image of an employee friendly company.
From compensation to perks to the work environment, everything will undergo a sea of change. Compensations may be fine-tuned based on the location of work. VMware, a California based Cloud Computing & virtualisation software company, has implemented compensation packages based on the cost of living in a particular location.
Similarly, benefits such a health care, insurance, home office allowance, up-skilling or training will be more sought after now as compared to gym membership or travel allowance. HR will need to rethink and reshape the work environment to allot greater focus to the employee well-being – both mental & physical well-being. Regular feedback and open two-way communication will help in improving Employee Experience & creating a great work culture,
3) Employee engagement: Employee Engagement has always been on the top of the HR strategies. With increase in hybrid and remote workforce, employee engagement becomes even more critical. Many surveys show that employees working remotely often feel isolated and lost. Managers Managing hybrid teams will need training wherein they are sensitised about how to engage remote employees and maintain a connect between all the team members. One very important aspect of employee engagement is communication. It is not restricted to communication regarding the task they are performing. HR strategy regarding employee communication will need a complete overhaul from ‘Need to Know’ basis to ‘Communicate to Connect’ basis. Creating communication platforms that apprise the team members about the company culture, goals, success stories helps create the bond and connect between remote employees and the company.
4) Infrastructure: With the change in work culture, HR will need to invest heavily into technology. Starting with recruitment process, where physical interactions have become redundant, communication platform for interviews and onboarding will take over face to face meetings. Similarly, HR will need to make investment on communication platforms for seamless day to day communication & collaborations. Providing access to all the data & information required for the smooth working of the hybrid teams will be one of the key aspects of HR strategies.
Faced with the disruptions during the pandemic, Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company invested efforts in enabling the digitisation of HR to enhance the seamless experience for its 16000+ employees across 250+ locations to reinforce and strengthen their capabilities and maintain the same levels of work momentum. * peoplematters.in
Going forward, the leadership teams will have to focus as much on Employee Experience as Customer Experience. In the world of the remote & hybrid workforce, HR is no longer responsible for employee management and payroll. They will need to look at expanding their responsibilities to create a workplaces where people look forward to working, irrespective of the geographical location.
