How HR Professionals Are Adapting during COVID-19
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With the current pandemic changing the nature of business worldwide, HR professionals have had to adapt quickly to help organisations shape new strategic frameworks as they move into the future.
HR are the 'people' people. In times of success, they empower individuals to excel in their careers, leading to a win/win for everyone involved. In times of crisis, however, it is HR who are responsible for workers' mental and physical wellbeing, often while having to make staff redundant.
With HR leaders facing the most challenging situation of their careers to date, Australian and International HR teams are adapting their strategies to ensure the best outcomes for all involved.
Creating an Open Framework for Collaboration
Lisa Friscia, Chief People Officer of the Democracy Prep Charter Schools in New York City, has focused on creating 'an infrastructure in which [everyone on] my team feels comfortable sharing their viewpoints, debating, and collaborating on a solution’. With meetings moving online, Friscia found that while more experienced team members were comfortable contributing in the Zoom environment, younger staff were hesitant to jump in. To encourage an ‘all hands on deck approach’, you can implement the following strategies. While these were designed to enhance online meetings, they are just as effective in face-to-face collaborations.
Ensuring all team members have a copy of the meeting agenda well in advance, so everybody has time to prepare
Calling on members of the team throughout meetings, based on their area of expertise and not on the length of their employment or level of seniority
Encouraging staff to inform the meeting by discussing any podcasts, articles or other resources they have recently encountered
Increasing Daily Communication
With the majority of team members working remotely, a raft of ever-changing legislation and uncertainty around job security, many HR leaders have found that additional communication has been essential. By increasing emails, online meetings and phone calls, staff have been able to feel more secure, connected and to maintain high levels of performance.
Delloite Melbourne senior manager Jessica Pond detailed the company’s communication strategy in this month’s AHRI magazine.
Taking a day-to-day approach to their communications strategy initially saw correspondence become a daily occurrence and ‘was increasingly delivered by more senior leaders’. As the pandemic grew and lockdowns ensued, Delloite created a dedicated team site that contained all the COVID-19 information relevant to their organisation.
Creating or further developing an intranet that enables online meetings, messaging and access to COVID-19 related documents can be a great way to keep your team connected and informed until work resumes as usual.
Leading With Compassion
Research and discussions have found that Australian business owners are increasingly concerned that more people will die from the flow-on effects on coronavirus than the pandemic itself.
Whether or not this will be the case is yet to be seen. However, many organisations are taking steps to ensure they are supporting their worker’s mental and emotional health as much as they are protecting their physical health.
Pat Wadors, Chief Talent Officer at ServiceNow, believes that leading with compassion means saying, 'I can feel your pain, and I have tools that can help you.'
As workers from Service Now moved to the online work environment, Wadors implemented several policies to enable her team to juggle their personal and professional lives. This included enacting a no meetings between 11 am and 2 pm policy to ensure her staff had time to have a proper lunch and get their young children down for a nap.
As COVID restrictions ease, continuing to allow for flexible working arrangements has been shown to build trust and respect, optimise productive hours and deepen SMEs talent pools.
At Infinity HR, we work with our clients to create and implement people-focused strategies that foster growth and productivity. Contact HR expert Iolanda Hazell today for a free, confidential consultation on 0400 489 743.
References:
5 ways to persuade managers to encourage flexible working
8 HR Leaders Share The Crucial Management Insights They've Learned During COVID
HRM, The Magazine of The Australian HR Insitute, May 2020, Issue 65