20/20 Hindsight – A whole new meaning as we reflect on the last 14+ months

March 2021 marked one year since the pandemic was declared a world health emergency, and life as we knew it was flipped on its head. This May marked one year since we Zoom travelled around the world, engaging with over 40 CHROs to reflect on the time machine that was COVID and the moves their organizations made to respond and recover.

As organizations around the globe are well-embedded in finding paths to thrive going forward, taking in the learning of the last year, and reacting in parallel to parts of the world struggling with continued COVID surges, we are asking the question:

COVID learnings – here to stay or just survival tactics that will fade?

When we reflect back on the May 2020 CHRO discussions three themes stand out:

1. Workplace: There was a lot of – “in the office, we used to…” that translated into “so from home, we should…” – virtual happy hours to replace social events, emails upon emails to account for missed organic catch ups or the death of “hallway collisions”, and ‘being in office mode’ for the workday translated into being chained to one’s home work space. And, new parallel universes seemed to be forming with “office workers” restricted to working from home and make-shift alternatives while healthcare, first responders, manufacturing, retail, and many others worked in the field with wide-ranging attempts to remain safe. 
2. Work: “Must do” was the barometer for should do – innovation projects and initiatives were stopped to focus on “core work”; gathering a “pulse” of our people was about health and safety – where people were, could they continue as is, what barriers did they need help to overcome.
3. Workforce: we compensated people to make their situation functionable under the rather strange spirit of “working from your couch isn’t sustainable – here is some cash to purchase home office equipment” or, “you have young children at home who require care or homeschooling – please work flexible hours, reduce work commitments, or take time off to balance it all”, or “we’re providing hand sanitizer and PPE that may – or may not – protect you, but it’s the best we know at the moment”.

So our question is: here to stay – or point in time?

We began crafting this short post as we wanted to answer that question. But we quickly discovered the question is fundamentally flawed as it assumes we’re playing the same game in the future as in the past, perhaps with some rules adjusted. We aren’t playing the same game, so do the old rules even apply? Perhaps not:

1. Working from home is now just work…
2. Supporting and engaging our workforce is no longer just about safety and security. Instead, those are core – it is our raison d’etre, our only currency…
3.  And flexible work isn’t just about necessity – it’s an option, a choice, our “now”, a step to productivity 

Modern science regards the COVID-19 pandemic as a seismic shift in the speed at which scientific research can be conducted – and the modern working world will attribute the same for its acceleration into the future.

So where to from here? 

Among the many divergences there are undeniably three constants every HR leader should lead across their enterprises:

1. Step out of “make-shift” – and into “work-shift” – and this is a radical change. Shifts are seen, heard, and experienced in every work domain. Blended live and asynchronous “chat” is the new email. “Digital” isn’t a channel it’s a way of being, and meetings really aren’t about the work they are about the people who do the work. Organizations are consciously refreshing outdated beliefs, behaviors and institutional barriers – from the work they do, to where and how they do it, to what that means for their people. And they should. Now is the time to reimagine work and how it gets done.
2. Ignite the C-suite – human experience is a C-level priority not an HR program. CHROs must be strategists and catalysts – across the board – from financial services, to high tech to government, from private companies to public institutions. Aligned with Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends report, the human experience is a Symphonic C-suite priority and board level agenda. It is the C-suite as a collective who are rethinking recommencement plans, (re)prioritizing people principles, being bolder on experience, and building the plan to get there.
3. Stop framing this as COVID; start referring to it as the next normal. COVID has been an accelerator – but this is more about what we learned through COVID coupled with outdated norms and institutions ripe for disruption. New business strategies, unconventional competitors, talent shortages, skill shifts, emphasis on workforce experience – no business is standing still – and no solution is off limits (4-day work week, 3-2-2, re-charge off days, hybrid work, health and wellness, human and machine collaboration). True commitment to re-architect work.

Every organization we’re fortunate to collaborate with is actively working through big strategic choices and small tactical choices with big strategic implications. Our clients regularly seek “leading practices” to learn from and build upon. In this moment with the game changing in real-time, we’re beginning to see leading practices signals. Realistically, as we’ve all grown to understand (even if not like), uncertainty is a near-constant demanding decisions and shifts in the absence of proven practices for success. HR leaders are in prime position to continue leading their enterprises’ navigation of the uncertainty and into the next norm.

Art Mazor is Deloitte's Global HR Transformation Practice leader. Art collaborates with complex, global clients to drive business value by transforming human capital strategies, programs, and services.

Jodi Baker Calamai is Deloitte's Global Leader for HR Strategy, Digital HR & Employee Experience. She has worked with some of the world’s leading organizations on their HR transformation journeys - focused on enabling HR to reduce structural costs while increasing business value. 

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