Challenges for HR professionals coming out of Covid-19

 Source: Forbes HR council

Before Covid-19, companies tended to assess employees on whether they had the capabilities the organization needed to meet its strategic goals. While that is still true today, companies also understand that they need to assess the soft skills and behavioural skills employees need to function in an evolving work environment.

The reintegration of remote teams back into the office will face challenges — not the least of which is that employees may not want to return (Friedman, 2023)

Employees Want Remote Work

As more people have had the opportunity to work remotely, many are finding they like it. According to PwC, 22% of employees said they are considering or planning a move more than 50 miles away from their current job and 40% of those laid off are planning a move as well.

Companies need to evaluate remote work policies right now and decide what is acceptable for the future. Employees who worked remotely during the pandemic may be frustrated if they are called back into the office and may look for other job opportunities. According to one survey, slightly more than one-third of current work-from-home employees say they would rather quit than return to the office full-time. When hiring, companies will need to be more open to remote work (Friedman, 2023).

Permanent remote work requires different skill sets, so you need to make sure your pre-hire assessment screenings are adequate to assess fitness for remote work.

Continued Remote Hiring

Source: alert-software

For human resources (HR) teams, virtual interviews and remote hiring are here to stay. While an in-person visit is important, HR teams and hiring managers have found it is possible to assess prospects virtually.

One tool hiring teams have found useful is asynchronous, or on-demand, video interviews. During in-person interviews, it is easy to forget key questions or frame them differently, making it difficult to compare candidate answers. Not only are on-demand video interviews ideal for virtual hiring, but they also provide a more objective assessment of candidates.

If companies are open to remote workers, it opens the door to significantly larger candidate pools since you will not be bound by geographical limits. On-demand video interviews make it easier for candidates to complete assessments on their own time or across time zones. Asynchronous job interviews are also time-savers for HR teams, which can also share video responses for group assessments (Friedman, 2023).

Digitization Of The Recruitment Process

Besides video interviewing, HR teams will need to take additional steps to digitize the recruitment process. Employers can no longer rely on reputation to attract the best candidates.

Top talent is always in demand. With increased competition for high performers, HR teams need to create digital tools. This process includes digital copies of employee manuals, benefits, HR policies, procedures, rule books and training manuals. For virtual hiring and remote employees, training videos and learning modules can facilitate onboarding quickly and efficiently when current employees are pressed for time (Friedman, 2023).

Evolving Job Skills

Source: ywcasaskatoon

If we have learned anything over the past year, it is that resiliency, adaptability and independent problem-solving are more important than ever. A recent survey from LinkedIn ranks adaptability as the top skill recruiters and hiring managers will need in a post-Covid-19 environment.

As companies are digitizing more work processes and deploying new technologies, it is creating new opportunities and new fears. According to the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs report, 43% of businesses report they are planning to reduce their workforce by substituting technological solutions. As workers fear job losses, both employers and employees are recognizing the need for agility. Employees need to upskill and employers will need to provide workers with opportunities to learn new skills and grow (Friedman, 2023).

Emphasis On Internal Hiring

Another trend that we are seeing is a focus on internal promotions. Data from LinkedIn shows a 20% increase in internal mobility since Covid-19. Creating opportunities for redeploying internal employees with the right skill sets can help improve the retention of top talent. According to the same LinkedIn report, employees working at companies with high internal mobility stay nearly twice as long. 

Decreased Recruiting Budgets

Source: edition.cnn.com

Half of the human resources professionals are expecting further reductions in recruiting budgets. There will be even greater pressure to fill open spots quickly and efficiently. HR teams will need cost-effective solutions that demonstrate a strong return on investment (ROI).

With decreased recruiting budgets, it's more important than ever for HR to look to alternative ways of conducting their business and making sure the pipeline of new employees is solid. Technology offers opportunities to meet this and future challenges, so don't be afraid to explore the options.

As Covid-19 begins to fade, a well-integrated, analytics-driven HR tech stack will be essential to adapt and evolve (Friedman, 2023).

HR Challenges and How to Approach Them

1. Rules and Regulations

Source: theincubatorng

This is one of the top priorities of a human resource specialist; compliance with government rules. In the dynamic business space, changes are the only constant. Therefore, a company needs to be in full accordance with it.

So, you must always be one with these rules and also ensure that the company follows them. Failure to do so can result in hefty penalties and fines. It will not only result in extra expenses but also tarnish the company’s reputation. This will later affect hiring and retaining the workforce.

Approach: To ensure this, all HR teams must continuously refer to the governing corporate rules in their respective country. This is different for every country. For example- if you are in the US, you must always check on the US Department of Labor for updated regulations (Roy, 2020).

2. Hiring

Hiring is one of the first things that come to mind when thinking about human resources. Though this is not the only one, it is undoubtedly an essential aspect of the work. A company’s success depends a lot on its workforce.

So, it is crucial to have the best hiring strategies in the labour market at play to employ the best. While doing so, one must not only focus on competency. There are many other things: cultural fit, employee persona, career goals,
etc., that an HR professional must look out for.

Approach: To find the right hire, the recruiting team should check up on many things. Some of these are skills tests, past work experience, future goals of the candidates, and employee persona. In implementing these, recruitment tools are a great help in this matter.

Due to the fast-paced business world, it is also not uncommon for HR teams to hire a third party in this process. These third parties are specialists in staffing that place temporary or permanent hires in companies whenever necessary.

3. Changes in Company Rules

Changes are never easy, but it is the nature of the business space. To stay afloat, a company must adapt, and this means bringing about changes. It is safe to assume that the workforce won’t accept all these changes with pure support.

Sometimes, these changes may bring favouritism in the workplace, new hardships in work, disrupt the team balance, etc. Therefore, the HR team needs to ensure these shifts in rules come about smoothly in these times.

Approach: You must be transparent in your company rules to tackle this HR challenge. Instead of bringing a change abruptly, it is better to put the new rules through trial with a grace period. It will help smooth things in the workforce. It will also give them time to adjust to the changes as well.

Also, emphasize the benefits of the change and how a shift in the company’s working can help the employees.

4. Employee Training

Source: resources.workable

Employee training and development programs are a big part of workforce grooming. Training is vital as it helps cut the cost of bringing in new specialists for every new opening that may arise. It also helps improve employee motivation.

The most common problem associated with this aspect is the resources required for training the team members. Therefore, it is crucial to find the right course and person to teach a workforce. Failure to do so will only cost extra money with no fruition at all.

Approach: One of the easiest ways to get around this HR challenge is by implementing a mentorship program for seniors and juniors. It works by having your senior executives coach the junior, and this has a twofold advantage.

First, by mentoring the juniors, the senior executives can enhance their communication skills. This will help ascertain their leadership style and skills for the future. Secondly, the juniors get guided by industry experts in a cost-effective method with nearly no extra expenses.

5. Compensation

Compensation is an area that HR personnel gets questioned about most frequently. Yet, it is a big part of keeping an employee happy. Here, one must be careful to keep an individual motivated and keep the payroll costs in check at the same time. You must be extremely cautious here.

Approach: Compensation doesn’t always have to be about salary. Instead, you can design different employee rewards and recognition programs. It will compensate for your employee’s hard work, minus a continual rise in the payroll.

It is because integrating a rewards program doesn’t require adding to a worker’s regular paycheck. Instead, it is a gesture of employee appreciation for a job well done. As a result, it will motivate your employees and improve employee engagement at the same time(Roy, 2020).

 

Conclusion

The method of recruiting, training and developing employees in an organization is changed due to the pandemic situation. Remote works accepted. We need to adapt to changes happening around us gradually. Then only we can compete and survive. 

Reference

Friedman, E. (2022) Council post: Top challenges for HR professionals coming out of covid-19, Forbes. Forbes Magazine. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2021/05/17/top-challenges-for-hr-professionals-coming-out-of-covid-19/?sh=54e8171623be (Accessed: March 18, 2023). 

Roy, B.D. (2020). Biggest Challenges of HR Professionals in COVID-19 Pandemic. [online] Vantage Circle HR Blog. Available at: https://blog.vantagecircle.com/challenges-of-hr/ (Accessed: March 21, 2023).