Finding their place in Chaos - HR

Charu is the head of HR in a mid-size manufacturing firm; as she is going through her quarterly attrition report, numbers are painfully high. On the other hand, engagement survey numbers plummet with employees losing trust in the company each passing day. Charu is not alone in this, with the dust settled after the initial lock-down fury, organizations across industries are waking up to the post-COVID-19 world's harsh truth.

Since HR as a function traditionally depends on F2F interaction, especially the engagement side of things, be it organizing a get-together, celebrating a festival (I had the weirdest secret Santas), a significant milestone for the company, or some fun activity, presence of people was a given. With the great accelerator that COVID-19 is, we don't see people getting back together with the way they were pre-COVID-19 anytime soon.

But if we take a step back, everything is not that bad; there are positives from COVID-19 (pun intended!) from an organization's standpoint. We only need to change how we see things.

HR can contribute by becoming the catalyst for change.

Paradox of proximity

Harsh is worried that he might not meet his colleagues and have the fun he used to have when he was in office. We are so far apart and close at the same time due to this pandemic. If you think about it, people have become more approachable, and believe me or not, we are more connected than ever with our employees now, more than what we were when we used to go to the office. The only thing missing is the proximity; you are just not in the same room.

With a few tweaks, we can bridge this gap as well, my answer, after-office-zoom-drinking-session, necessity is the mother of invention!

With zoom and G meet becoming the lifeline for us, we can talk to anyone, no longer restricted by geography, that's the added advantage we overlook. This alone has the potential to change how we see businesses!

If you strip it down to the very basics, what do you need at the end? What's the discussion all about? According to me, in the end, it's about two things, the right person in front of you and an idea worth pursuing or discussing. Technology has the cure for the former for us no matter where you are; for the later, pandemic, or no pandemic, it has to come from you!

And if you come to think of it, don't you find it easy and more efficient to hop on to a meeting, brainstorm, and then get on with something else that you were doing. It cuts down on time we spend on booking a meeting room, waiting for people to come there, people stuck in traffic, and what have you.

If we can somehow get this message across, we can ease some pain and open doors to new opportunities for people if they harness this, and who better to do this than your friendly HR?

Get familiar with technology

Once upon a time, our parents were struggling with WhatsApp, cut to today, there is not a day goes by when I don't see a good morning picture on our family group, the point that I am trying to make is simple. It will take some time to adjust for people, but once they see that their "good morning picture" is appreciated, they will latch onto it and learn everything independently. As HR, we need to show them the benefits and be patient.

And to be honest, people are getting comfortable with technology. The next step is to use this medium to engage with them. Find out new ways, and there are many out there, see what fits in with your organization. Be creative with it!

Don't wait for the gig economy

Rajeev, Pre-COVID-19, was an average team member working in Andromeda's market development, a financial services company. Due to COVID-19 Andromeda went through a rapid transition, management asked Rajeev to help with product development. He surpassed all expectations, surprised everyone, and became the most desirable-go-to person for everything in the organization. Everyone had only good things to say about him. COVID-19 proved to be a blessing in disguise for him. There are many "Rajeevs" out there, waiting to be found, HRs can significantly accelerate this!     

Start this in your organization. Now is the time to experiment, things are changing, so are we, and we need to adapt; there are no two ways about it. With the threat of becoming obsolete knocking on the door, we cannot be doing the same things and expect results. Every process that we follow needs to be looked at from a different angle. And this is the time to find out our workforce's hidden talents and how we can utilize them for a mutually beneficial relationship.

Involve people in projects, see what they are good at, and take it from there. If the business does not allow this, keep them engaged and let them communicate freely what they are interested in and get your L&D department to work together to raise their level.

We are in an early stage of a rapid change that no one anticipated. People will come out with unique solutions, hang tight, and be aware of what's happening. 

Human Resources needs to change with time as well. In my opinion, out of all core departments, HR is known to lag in terms of catching up with the trend. Here we need a complete overhaul in the processes that we follow in Human Resources and beyond. Let's take one day at a time and set the standards for this new normal!