I address this to those fortunate to be employed: are you happy with the way your organisation has dealt with the situation?

The world of work has changed in the last couple of weeks, and companies are navigating new challenges. Nearly everyone, it seems, is embracing — or at least testing — the future of work. 

As per LinkedIn’s latest report, Global Talent Trends 2020, four trends stand out which will reshape the talent hiring and recruitment landscape - the emergence of employee experience, the spread of people analytics, the return of internal recruiting, and the ascent of the multigenerational workforce.

Virtual career fairs and events, fully remote recruiting, more personalised career paths, and greater insights into candidate experiences are quickly becoming the new normal in a post-COVID-19 world. The COVID-19 pandemic is quickly changing how every organisation is attracting, recruiting, and retaining employees on their virtual teams, making remote work the new normal. Businesses faced with paying salaries amidst the general slowdown have resorted to layoffs after orders started getting cancelled – both from clients and suppliers. Reducing the workforce might seem like a quick fix to release liquidity for now, yet hurried decisions with a short-term outlook are usually not a good solution for long-term business continuity.

Many successful companies consider their corporate culture as a source of sustainable competitive advantage. They make deliberate efforts to integrate their stated core values and business principles into employee management processes such as communication methods, leadership development activities, performance management systems, compensation and benefits programs. Senior leaders need to be actively involved communicating a clear plan, ensuring employees feel they are well prepared to do their job, staff are kept informed and their well-being is attended to. Employees need empathy and compassion when they feel most vulnerable, or they'll disengage from the work and recoil from their managers. Command-and-control management is likelier to depress performance than get the job done.

Coaching with compassion, communication and individualisation is far, far more effective than bossing, and your managers need to hear that from you. Frequent communications should increase during times of positive test results to help ensure adherence to preventative measures, as well as keeping staff calm and feeling protected.

I am asking you, have you feel supported during this unprecedented time?