What do healthy workplaces look like post Covid-19?
Global people functions truly stepped up this past year. But as hybrid working becomes the norm, more needs to be achieved, especially around wellbeing and employee engagement.
Pandemic heightens challenges
The pivot to widespread remote-working (RW) and international remote-working (IRW) – and now hybrid working models – prompted by government health advice during the first phases of the pandemic to “Stay at Home” was met with widespread approval from UK business representative bodies like the CBI, CIPD and the Institute of Directors after research found productivity increased.The most recent global research into productivity, published in early September by talent advisory and solutions company, Adecco, and seeking the opinions of 15,000 office-based employees, found 82% feel more or as productive than before with a hybrid working model.Yet research is more mixed for employee wellbeing. Some data suggested people were happier working from home, while others highlighted the negative impact on wellbeing from balancing work and family demands.A study released in September 2021 by Hitachi Capital Business Finance surveyed a nationally representative sample of senior decision-makers in small businesses. Eight in ten with children still at home were feeling positive about a return to the office. This compared to 53% of those whose children have left home and 69% of single adults without children. The key reasons were looking forward to a proper work routine (47%), with around a third also citing missing “looking smart/professional” and “being able to see/socialise with colleagues again”. These aspects highlight the valuable role work can have on people’s self-identity and wellbeing.From an inclusion perspective, the CIPD’s Good Work survey for 2020 found that people with pre-existing conditions reported their health worsened over the pandemic. For the professional body for HR and people development, the key to successful hybrid working models is ensuring protected characteristics continue to be safeguarded as ways of working evolve, as well as ensuring that young people affected by the pandemic have access to quality jobs and good work.Related news and articles:
Managing people risks
The pandemic has clearly tightened the focus on people issues in a way like never before. Global HR consultants Mercer Marsh Benefits survey of over 1,300 HR professionals and risk managers around the world found people-related issues featuring in the top five risks for both global and UK businesses alongside challenges like cyber security.Talent attraction and retention is number two among global respondents and number three in the UK, where the top concern is managing employee’s deteriorating mental health over the pandemic. Workforce exhaustion also weighs heavily on the UK and global top ten, at positions 6 and 4 respectively.Interestingly, a study by global healthcare benefits provider Aetna International finds that 87% of expats surveyed believed family healthcare-related employment benefits to be important when considering a job opportunity abroad and more of a priority than the financial package and career prospect of the role.Dr Hemal Desai, Global Medical Director at Aetna International says, “In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, people understandably want to ensure their families are looked after and are looking to their employers for support.“We’re yet to understand the mid- to long-term implications of the pandemic on people’s physicalA new kind of leadership?
Amid talk of a national mental health crisis and employees based at home cautiously returning to the office, getting employee engagement right is going to be critical to the post-covid economic recovery and workplace renewal.A Mercer Marsh report with the Rewards and Benefits Association (REBA) finds that HR teams are well aware of the challenges. The top five areas that HR teams will increase their focus in are:- 85% employee wellbeing
- 84% flexible working (time/location)
- 68% diversity and inclusion for minority ethnic and racial backgrounds
- 65% diversity and inclusion by gender.
Flexibility and personalisation
In the global people and mobility sphere, the RES Forum’s 2020/21 research report, International Remote Working: The emergence of a new paradigm, ties all these themes of flexibility, wellbeing, inclusion, engagement and productivity together in a research-based practical framework for action.It cites three trends in international mobility that have come to the fore in the pandemic that are likely to persist:- Some company-led global assignments will convert to international remote working
- Talent-led assignments with developmental focus are likely to revert to physical moves
- Employee-led assignments for personal reasons are likely to increase.
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