Workplace opportunities for the post-pandemic world of work

June 10, 2020

How has COVID-19 impacted the workplace to date?

In a very short space of time, well-embedded operating rhythms have been upended and companies have been forced to react quickly to respond to local government guidelines on COVID-19 and continue to do business where possible. Crisis management teams have been deployed in force to strategise and execute contingency plans, with the biggest operational challenge being coordinating, communicating and deploying IT for ‘non-essential’ office workers to work remotely.

For those who can work from home, teams have been forced to engage virtually using video conferencing technology and all meetings, training and onboarding of new staff conducted in a fully virtual environment. For those who can’t work remotely or where companies are unable to support their workers, many have been asked to join a furlough scheme in the short term. And those on the front line that have previously received little credit or acknowledgement have overnight become our most important key workers, putting themselves at risk for the health and safety of the population.

Where there is challenge there is opportunity…

As the impact of COVID-19 continues, employers will likely be faced with more short-term challenges to respond and adapt to. However, many of these new ways of working could provide opportunity to evolve and make positive changes to the workplaces of the future.

Workplace flexibility

Phasing workforces of any size to return to work will bring about considerable challenges to employers. Driven by local government guidelines and managed by business leaders, companies must start thinking now about how, when and what they communicate and how to operationalise and prepare the physical environment for workers to return. For many companies, the pandemic has proven that despite initial logistical challenges, working from home can still be productive. In the future, what was initially an operational dilemma could encourage new levels of workplace flexibility for staff and create an opportunity to reduce expensive real estate costs. If so, considerable savings could be made to reinvest elsewhere or offset against some of the financial impact that COVID-19 has imposed.

Changing expectations of employees

With many employees used to new levels of flexibility and home working, the challenge for employers now becomes how to address these changing expectations moving forward. Simply reverting to ‘normal’ operating practice could be faced with some resistance, but for employers who embrace this ‘new normal’ and provide greater flexibility there could be rewards to reap. When choosing an employer, many candidates, particularly of the Gen Z and Millennial generations, are already looking for workplaces offering greater levels of flexibility. Companies that continue to embrace homeworking and flexibility after lockdown could find better levels of engagement amongst exiting staff and further support their talent attraction strategies in the future.

Whatever policy employers decide on, it will be key to be strike a balance in approach that acknowledges those workers who desire a continuation of this new-found flexibility with those who have missed the social interaction of an office or don’t have the ability or desire to work from home.

Remote management

With large populations successfully set up to work from home and the IT and infrastructure in place to do so, leaders across many businesses have become acutely aware of the challenges of maintaining team motivation and engagement remotely. Unable to meet face-to-face, many managers have been forced to deal with sensitive communications around how their people are coping, or—in the worst cases—that their jobs are at risk of redundancy and are having to learn new skills to manage their teams virtually. As the workplace becomes more remote over time, these new skills learned in times of adversity will position managers well to thrive long-term.

Full digital adoption

Digital adoption has been well underway for many companies for some time, but recent advances in remote working has no doubt sped this up. Whole teams have been forced to operate virtually almost overnight, connecting only via calls, emails and video technology and all business conducted remotely. Large-scale digital adoption has come at a cost and investment to businesses, but successful adoption during the pandemic could position workplaces well in the future by providing more flexibility to employees, finding innovative new ways to engage with customers and saving in unnecessary meeting expenses and travel or in physical real estate costs.

HR and Recruitment

Many businesses have pressed pause on recruitment in recent months due to economic uncertainty, but for companies where hiring has remained a priority, adapting a virtual screening, selection and onboarding process has become the new norm. It can prove challenging to sell your company culture remotely, virtual assess talent and onboard new candidates who have never met their team but managing parts of the recruitment and selection process virtually in the future could become a quicker and more cost-effective solution for businesses long-term.

Summary

There’s no hiding from the fact that companies across the world have been placed under significant strain in recent months with business demand dropping and, in many cases, profitability sliding backwards. Smaller companies have struggled to stay afloat, with furloughing and redundancy becoming common in most organisations. But these unprecedented times and challenges have inspired new attitudes, mind sets, ways of working and business needs, and imposed an evolution that could improve the workforce of the future—or at least speed up a transformation that had already started. There is little doubt that the future will be rewritten for good as a result of COVID-19, but now it is down to employers to consider their attitude and responses and seize the opportunity to implement strategic change over responding with tactical solutions.