Ideas for HR Transformation - Post Covid 19 lockdown

The world is faring in unchartered waters right now. Every nook and corner of the world is being transformed by all that has been happening and professional life of people is quite naturally not untouched either. After a 21 days’ lockdown in the nation, one question that is staring at all of us is “Should HR be driving employee policies the same way as was done before?” As the novel coronavirus pandemic continues, all the organisations have been forced to reevaluate their business policies in order to protect their human assets.

So, here I have got you some ideas on the best practices that HRs can follow post lockdown:

Inculcating a Work from Home culture:

Many big organizations had successfully implemented Work from Home policies much before this lockdown. A large number of people think that its only employees who reap the rewards from ‘Work from Home’ policy but it’s surprising to know that employers equally benefit from the same.

From significant savings to an enhanced productivity and attracting top talents to increased employee attendance, employers benefit greatly from adopting flexible schedules in the workplace.

 But implementing WFH policy requires a small homework and these are the pointers you can think of:

These pointers can help you start thinking on designing the right framework for WFH policy specific to your organisation. As a small tip, try to schedule WFH on Wednesday not on Friday!

Tips on how to make WFH employees feel connected, engaged & valued:

HRs are seen as bridge between the employees and the management. Hence, when it comes to right communication with WFH employees, the responsibility of HR increases manifold.

HR can train the managers on the following points to ensure that the team is well connected:

• Setting clear expectations makes everyone know the boundaries and lessens the need to “check up” on WFH employees.
• Ensure to have a meeting facilitator who can make sure that WFH employees get a chance to speak
• It’s vital to communicate standards and expectations. Do you expect them to be online and available during certain hours? Do you only care that the job gets done and not how long they are at their desks?
• Water-cooler chats creates bonding and can still be done: Make time for conversations, both work related and personal on phone
• Call on WFH employees frequently to give them the opportunity to ask any questions and offer comments
• Providing timely feedback, both appreciative and developmental, is especially important for WFH employees.

 Making Work from Home more effective by making teams more accountable

 Be rigorous in measuring employee productivity and hold people accountable for meeting goals and each team is then accountable for quarterly or even monthly goals. If your team achieves or misses the goals set, they do it together. This makes it nearly impossible for individuals to shirk from their responsibilities because everyone is relying on each team member to do his or her part.

 Project management tools can make all the difference as tasks can be broken down into individual assignments and by assigning deadlines and responsibilities to each team member, everyone will stay on the same page and be held accountable for the completion of their work. It will also give everyone a clear picture of how work is progressing.

E-learning can be a great tool to continue the learning culture

E-learning simply implies no boundaries. It will enable the organisation to conduct online courses from anywhere. This can ensure standardisation of training imparted across location and the content can be customizes to address the challenges of that particular industry or organisation.

The best part is employee can learn when he/she wants to so it ensures higher retention. He/She can choose the module he wishes to know more about and hence the learning becomes more effective than holding a classroom training with fixed module for all.

As we all know ‘Change is the only constant thing’ and the changes that current business environment is facing, HR has a major role to play to get this transformation done smoothly.

Hope this article would help you in re-thinking your current HR policies and small steps that can be taken to make your workforce ready for the ‘New Wave in the Business Environment’