Workplace: A call to change for HR bosses

By Siwar Zein |

The way we work has been irrevocably changed by the challenges of this difficult and uncertain year.

Today, more people are working from their homes than in offices as organisations shift towards a fully remote or hybrid work model to adhere to social distancing protocols and other measures to curb the spread of Covid-19.

The success of a remote work environment has meant that several organisations are now looking at making this a more permanent shift in the future.

A LinkedIn survey found that while 43 per cent of respondents are now currently working remotely, a whopping 45 per cent of them are looking to continue with remote work post-Covid-19 and create a more fluid and flexible way of working. However, the move towards remote work has meant that employees need a new support system in place to cater to the change and unique needs that spring from working from home. This necessitates a reimagining of the functionalities of every organisations’ human resources (HR) department and an overhaul in its systems, processes, and guidelines

Building capacity

HR professionals are responsible for managing the entire employee lifecycle. This ranges from recruiting to onboarding, training, employee development, morale and engagement programmes, workplace conflict resolution, company reorganisations, and much more. But, in a remote environment, these factors do not play out in much the same way.

For example, in building manager capability, HR professionals need to review the way they approach the management and support of their workforce within the context of a new way of conducting work.

Motivation building, maintaining team engagement and now, more importantly, demonstrating inclusive practices in day-to-day engagements as they navigate the hybrid workplace will be key areas that HR professionals will need to collaborate and support people managers in organisations.

Employees also need greater support as remote models can lead to an increased or decreased workload, a push for productivity that can lead to burnout and increased anxiety. Insights from platforms such as Microsoft’s MyAnalytics give employees the opportunity to analyse their own work style, from who they collaborate with most regularly to how much uninterrupted time they have to focus.

They can then use that data and insight to make changes to their own work style.

- The writer is the Human Resource Director, Microsoft Middle East and Africa Emerging Markets