Future of HR Post Covid-19

6 Aug

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented crisis with severe economic and social repercussions. It is difficult to know when the crisis will be over. Organizations are trying to understand multifarious ways to ensure sound functioning in the future.

HR in every organization has played and is playing a crucial role in managing the Non-COVID situation and COVID-19 also. HR facilitates efforts to keep the employees of the organization motivated, work productively and move towards organizational goals. COVID has brought forth the actual value of H.R. and its effort to respond to COVID 19 in a manner suitable to employees and organizations. Now that companies have understood the functioning of employees during COVID-19, H.R. has to look towards its future also. The fast-changing H.R. will affect the future, working, policies, etc. of many companies. Let us look into those:

Remote work practices: COVID has enhanced the scope for remote working. Training and development programs are already done online now. With widening scope, the new H.R. have to adapt themselves to this new normal. Moreover, this technique has already proved its mettle.

Rising GIG economy: A market that manifests the existence of short-term contractual jobs or freelance work in contrast to permanent/regular jobs. The rising gig economy means the focus for HR will be finding tools to bring together all the workers to ensure organizational effectiveness.

Data and Artificial Intelligence: This is being no longer confined to few areas. AI has found a way to almost all the functions of the company. In H.R also, this will help to ease the work of top H.R executives as HR Chatbots have also proved to have potential.

Absence of Face time: Remote working has now forced the absence of this critical signal to interpret intention. Therefore, it is imperative for HR has to design policies that ensure best practices in the absence of this critical factor so that the effectiveness of an organization is not affected.

Flexible work arrangements: Such as Flexi timings, work from home, Hybrid mode, etc. will be the top priority for the companies. It helps in getting the work productively from employees and employee loyalty also increases.

Integrated H.R: H.R. department will constitute a team of data experts, Recruitment specialists, training specialists, and all working in collaboration. The integration will be the mantra for the successful functioning of the H.R. department.

Leadership skillset: Such as open, honest, informative, inspirational, etc. will have to be evolved to ensure success and completion of pre-determined objectives. These skill sets are not new however, their presence manifests the leadership skills.

Keeping the skills updated: Prospective MBA students can keep themselves updated through pursuing online classes or enrolling in the top MBA colleges in India to join the industry with good knowledge. They can contribute to the enhanced and efficient functioning of the workforce through their training and development programs in light of changing scenarios.

Keeping employees well informed and aligned: with the business by involving employees in regular (Virtual) conversations with managers, virtual team meetings, “Town Hall” meetings, etc. This would be the new normal for communicating from time to time.

Increased scope for medical facilities: Many companies are providing more services to be covered under group medical insurance to keep employees covered during uncertain times and this will increase. Many organizations have partnered with specialists to offer consultation to workers via app made especially for employee well-being during COVID.

To recapitulate, COVID-19 has quickened the path of change for HR. The very definition of what a job means is set to modify, due to the continuous developments in not only freelancing, but also contract work, outsourcing, and more flexible employment-contract models. This will further influence the way top management and employees engage, perform and achieve. Big data, Artificial Intelligence, remote working, Integrated H.R., etc. will rule the Future of the H.R Industry and will turn out to be positive for employees as well as employers. This new normal is nothing but the future of H.R. which is ever increasing and adapting the changes from time to time.

Ms. Anjali Vij
Assistant Professor, RDIAS