Rapidly changing workplace conditions during the pandemic have intensified the responsibilities of the HR manager.
These professionals now play a more foundational role than ever in an increasingly distributed workforce. In fact, human capital management has likely changed forever, especially in these three areas.
1. An HR manager has to juggle a three-tiered workforce.
Companies embarked on remote work as a short-term measure to ensure continuity during the pandemic, but remote work is now expected to rise and is likely to persist after the pandemic recedes.
A 2020 Conference Board Online Survey with 330 human capital executives in the U.S. found that more than a third of respondents expect that 40 percent or more of their employees will work remotely 12 months after COVID-19.
What’s more, a 2020 Gartner survey of 127 U.S. company leaders shows that 82 percent of respondents intend to permit remote working some of the time, resulting in employees straddling two workplaces.
Dealing with remote employees, on-premise crews and employees who straddle both in-office and WFH triple the effort for the HR manager to engage and strengthen overall connections with employees.
One of the new chief responsibilities of the HR manager is being a social maestro, ensuring that all three groups work well together and feel connected despite logistical challenges.
Communicating virtually with WFH employees creates more work for HR staff, with virtual check-ins and frequent updates. Scheduling a growing number of virtual events such as meetings, conferences and trainings also adds a new level of complexity to their work.
Creating a sense of teamwork and camaraderie has always been the purview of the HR manager. Yet doing so with a disparate workforce entails a novel level of creativity and effort.
Even social hours require creative approaches. An HR manager now has to coordinate virtual happy hours and company mixers, provide tools for creating meaningful interactions between employees during a time of isolation and invent games and other activities to entertain everyone and keep remote employees engaged.
2. An HR manager must handle unprecedented safety issues.
The pandemic has placed the HR manager in uncharted territory overnight.
As businesses reopen, a typical HR manager will deal with safety challenges they have never encountered before. Not only will they need to be aware of everchanging health and safety regulations, they will also need to train everyone on the new workplace safety requirements.
The current heightened awareness of workplace safety is not expected to end post-pandemic. New health and safety issues and preparing for the next pandemic will likely ensure that HR folks continue to take center stage.
Above all, they are also under pressure to act as diplomats in encouraging new safety habits. When some employees don’t adhere to safety rules such as wearing masks, maintaining social distance or using hand sanitizers, it falls on the HR manager to communicate the new way of doing things and enforce compliance. While before the pandemic, HR’s focus was on standards and controls, the new world of work is about empathy and collaboration.
When an employee has COVID or exhibits symptoms, the onus is on the HR manager to manage the issue. Along with applying infection containment protocols to safeguard other employees, they must also respect a potentially infected employee’s need for safety and empathy.
Human capital management now includes calming employee anxiety about returning to their desks. In some cases, it's also conducting thermal scanning and creating flexible paid sick leave and supportive policies to encourage self-reporting.
Staying on top of legal ramifications and providing around-the-clock support has increased HR managers' workload and stress levels. A 2020 Reward Gateway global survey of 751 HR leaders from companies across the UK, U.S. and Australia found that 71 percent of HR leaders consider 2020 to be the most stressful year of their career.
The current heightened awareness of workplace safety is not expected to end post-pandemic. New health and safety issues and preparing for the next pandemic will likely ensure that HR folks continue to take center stage.
3. An HR Manager must wear an IT hat.
With the acceleration of remote working, cybersecurity concerns have risen.
A 2020 survey of more than 200 IT and cybersecurity decision-makers across the U.S. shows that remote workers have caused a security breach in 20 percent of organizations since the start of the pandemic.
Consequently, an HR manager’s job is becoming more tech-centric. They're tasked with keeping employees informed of cybersecurity policies and providing ongoing guidance and reminders about best practices.
The HR manager has gone from HR consultant to become a technical liaison. In this expanded new role, the HR manager ensures that remote workers have business equipment and functioning technology at home to do their work and safeguard the company’s intellectual property.
HR’s new administrative duties may also include monitoring additional telephone and broadband costs and administrating insurance policies to make sure that equipment used remotely is insured.
What’s more, to mitigate fatigue from screen-based meetings, HR consultants may also spend time evaluating a broader range of alternative online communication tools.
Without a doubt, being tech-savvy is a front-burner competency for HR professionals. Overnight they've had to master contact tracing apps and data dashboards, and train WFH workers on how to use new technologies.
The pandemic has transformed the role of the HR manager. A 2020 ADP Canada survey of 1,538 Canadian employees, including 301 HR professionals, shows that 43 percent of HR professionals feel HR has changed because of COVID-19 and 61 percent believe their role has become more complex.
But many employees are not aware of HR’s new responsibilities. One-third of those surveyed have no idea what HR does all day.
Company executives need to be aware that their HR professionals are navigating a challenging and complex landscape. They need to view human resources professionals as human capital, not as an expense.
Ultimately, companies that recognize the changing roles of HR professionals and give them a seat at the table as strategic partners will be better positioned to manage their companies in the future workplace.
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