The human resources field has experienced very sudden changes in recent years. As a professional working in this field, it implies changing strategies and adapting to what the industry calls for to succeed. With a healthcare crisis going on globally due to the pandemic of Covid-19, the HR experts are facing the challenge of keeping a socially isolated team communicated.
The remote-working situation mixed with an economic crisis worldwide and the occupational instability we’ve been dealing with has turned the healthcare crisis into a mental health crisis for some of us.
The experts on the topic warn that its psychological impact might last longer than the physical effects of the pandemic. Meaning that you must go above and beyond to support your employees and keep the morale high.
Besides adapting to the distant situation at work, HR leaders need to redesign how they operate to thrive in a digital era that’s constantly changing the game rules. We must reimagine the role of HR to make it what these challenging times demand from an innovative business.
Thanks to the recent changes in the operation of companies, the HR role is changing from being stereotypically perceived as a department focused on administrative tasks to a vital part of the enterprise’s innovation and success.
And with this recognition came the challenge to adopt new tools and focus closely on situations that HR professionals didn’t consider before. In adapting to the fast-paced growth of this field, various software and schemes are being implemented.
Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
An ATS software list by Matchr is an HR tool that helps you streamline recruiting and hiring your employees. It allows you to simplify the operation from posting the job offer, applicant screening, collecting, and sorting resumes.
It lets you attract top talents and ranks your applications for you to sort them out faster and find the best-suited candidates for the position first.
Some of the features that ATS offers are:
- Candidate sourcing
- Resume storage and comparison
- Keyword search
- Automated emails
- Job posting and offer distribution
- Filters
- Communication with the applicants
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Efforts
In the light of the recent social fights for equality and rights, many people have demanded their work environment to adapt to these principles and ethics. For instance, many companies worldwide have decided to declare their commitment to the cause as an effort to build a fair and inclusive environment.
The challenge now for many HR leaders is to turn these promises into a reality. Luckily, there are many tech-driven options for this to happen.
By considering incorporating technology into the recruiting process, the specialists can apply the unbiased point of view of technological-powered solutions in a human-focused approach towards building an environment where the employees feel safe and equally treated.
Automated skill and behavioral assessment tests are examples of technology used to keep an impartial and unbiased process while ensuring everyone is treated as part of an inclusive workspace.
Invest in mental health
Reducing workplace-related stress and avoiding burnouts must be of prime concern to HR leaders as employee’s poor mental health contributes to low morale and affects productivity.
Dealing with the pandemic made it pretty visible that psychological health is a matter of great importance, in and outside of the workplace. Still, not all companies are on board with the initiative, and some might even consider it a nice-to-have benefit instead of a basic necessity as a worker.
Training your team to understand the importance of supporting your staff in this subject and providing them the skills to deal with it adequately is essential to prevent this from hurting your personnel’s spirit.
You can start by talking about it. Nothing takes away the stigma from mental illness as speaking openly about it. It will make your staff feel more confident if they ever struggle with this situation.
Open a forum for invited professionals to talk about the topic, and encourage your team to share their personal experience with psychiatric ailments. The priority is to create a safe workspace where everyone knows they can open about their conditions and get the support they need from their staff to get out of difficult situations.
Managing with flexibility
Freelancing is more popular every day, and the experts in the subject assure that in the future there will be more people working under temporary contracts than long-term. This condition will manifest in companies dealing with even more turnover, meaning they need to constantly attract more talent into the workforce and establish strategies that increase the worker’s satisfaction to stay longer in their position.
The ability of the HR team to adapt to this situation will be a primary factor when it comes to successful businesses in the coming years.
Preparing for hybrid work models
While remote working positions have been gaining popularity in recent years, the Covid-19 pandemic skyrocketed the chances of getting a home office position. It proved that countless tasks that corporations considered to require physical interaction could be successfully fulfilled remotely.
Many active workers have stated that they want to continue working distantly, at least a couple of days a week, and they would even consider switching jobs if their employers requested them to go back to the office full-time.
As an HR expert, you need to consider your staff’s opinion and develop a business model with what they expect from the company. For many companies, the solution might be a hybrid work model that allows your employees to choose the location where they want to work and ask them to be at the office only when it’s entirely necessary.
Remote work has been demonstrated to be a viable option from the employer’s side for many enterprises. Compare the company’s numbers from before turning to home office with your staff, and maybe you’ll find that it might not be such a bad idea to adopt a hybrid model for your corporation.
Team-building activities
When you work from home, chances are you don’t interact with your workmates a lot. So bringing the team closer together is a subject that requires special attention from HR professionals.
The chance to interact with your team in a non-professional environment, at least once in a while, helps build trust, allows everyone to have fun, and boosts morale. It helps create a connection between the staff and fights off stress.
Consider preparing non-work activities for your team for good fun from time to time. From a virtual gaming meeting to a quick-cooking event, the sky is the limit when it comes to the options you have to get your team to bond with each other.
So, what should we focus on now when it comes to HR tasks?
Adjusting to today’s market demands and trends is full-time labor for HR leaders, and you need to make sure you’re focusing your efforts on the most critical things on your company’s plan at the moment.
Staff experience
We must work closely with the employees to make sure they feel free to communicate what works for them and what doesn’t and create a work plan for both parties. This action can help you ensure you meet workers’ needs and expectations.
At the same time, that would raise the levels of productivity and engagement among the members of your work team. This appeases the communication in the group and promotes employees’ satisfaction.
Adapting to change
The HR management should notify everyone affected by the modus operandi about the adjustments and instruct those who require it for the tasks they must perform.
Successful transition to a different working model involves carefully planning, developing, and monitoring the transformation. Listening to your team and their concerns might help you recognize the urgent topics to solve.
Incorporating technology into the recruiting operations
Technology-powered tools have been vital to the development of the industry since the beginning of the pandemic. It gives us the chance to connect and interact regardless of social distancing, but it also helps many HR professionals manage their tasks in a faster, more organized way.
This software isn’t meant to replace human intelligence; the point of using these gadgets is to streamline the processes and create a satisfying job with equal opportunities for growth indistinctively and objectively.
Wrapping up
The role of HR experts keeps evolving and changing through time, and there’s no way to predict what the field will become in a decade from today. Still, we are sure that it will continue to transform and expand as the needs of the companies continue to dictate the evolution of the intricate schemes we keep developing to cope with the accelerated expansion of the subject.
Now is the perfect moment to focus on redefining and innovating the way we manage human resources. Remember that the key is to identify, working in conjunction with your staff, the specific issues in your company and designing a work plan directed to fixing them and improving the work environment for your employees.
About the Author!
Wendy Dessler is a super-connector who helps businesses find their audience online through outreach, partnerships, and networking. She frequently writes about the latest advancements in digital marketing and focuses her efforts on developing customized blogger outreach plans depending on the industry and competition.
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