The pandemic has impacted businesses in ways no one would have imagined. While office workers shifted to teleworking, brick-and-mortar stores shut their doors and quickly adopted e-commerce.

Businesses have had their adaptability put to the test. And the time is ripe for organizations to start recruiting and reengaging to address the post-pandemic work demands. The future remains uncertain for many businesses, but one thing is sure: those that focus on empowering their human capital will have an edge in post-pandemic recovery.

In other words, HR has a pivotal role to play in rebuilding after the pandemic. This article discusses five ways in which human resource leaders can make this happen. Let’s dive in.

Foster Employee Welfare

The crisis has affected workers both physically and mentally. Luckily, most organizations have instituted medical support systems to help their employees manage the effects of the crisis.

As we move towards recovery, a vibrant and productive workforce will be crucial to any business’s survival. As such, HR will need to focus on fostering better employee welfare. For instance, you can provide a comprehensive healthcare program that shoulders most of the financial burden. Not only can this reassure and motivate the existing team, but it can help attract better talent as you restructure and rehire.  

On the same note, you may need to reevaluate and step up your entire employees’ benefits package to attract and retain top talent. For example, you may look into offering student loan assistance by providing reimbursement, giving teleworking incentives like reimbursing telephone and internet costs, providing continuous training and development to bridge skills gaps, etc.       

Support Agility

The pandemic has significantly disrupted how we do business. As new challenges emerge, companies must be prepared to adapt to change quickly. For instance, HR should consider adopting a flexible deployment approach. Instead of having employees stuck in their traditional roles, you may allow them to work wherever their skills are needed within the organization. You should also help your organization accelerate reskilling and upskilling existing talent to bridge any skill gaps.

In a nutshell, human resource leaders should facilitate agility within the organization to ensure existing resources are optimized. In return, businesses will remain competitive and adaptable without stretching the budget with additional hiring.

Adopt a Growth Mindset

Challenges are opportunities for learning and growth. It may sound cliché, but businesses that sail through the pandemic will emerge the strongest.

Even the most disaster-prepared company may not have envisioned the changes we have witnessed following the outbreak of COVID-19. Nonetheless, business leaders who have cultivated a growth mindset stand a better chance of leading their companies through the challenging economic times we are facing and emerge stronger.

We have had to change the way we do business. As a result, there have been critical skill gaps, especially in companies that hadn’t embraced technology fully. Though this may be a challenge, it’s also an opportunity for employees to develop their skill sets through upskilling. And as organizations shuffle workers between departments to maximize their human capital, they’ll be rediscovering themselves and getting a chance to grow their careers.

Recruit Strategically

As businesses prepare to brace the yet challenging times ahead, HR should step in by conducting strategic recruitment. In other words, human resource leaders should seek to align their recruitment goals with the overall company strategy.

There may have been layoffs and furloughs, but soon companies will have to start rehiring as business demands increase. As such, HR will need to overhaul their existing hiring strategy, examine future skill gaps, and hire based on those needs.

For instance, a retail store that has broken into e-commerce following the shutdown and still predicts growth in that direction may have to rethink its hiring strategy. Their payroll may have mostly comprised of store attendants with basic customer care skills, but now they may need to hire more tech-savvy workers to process online orders.  

With the challenging business environment, organizations will need to tighten their belts and maximize their resources. This means acquiring the best of the best talent that can help realize the highest return on investment. Thus, they may need to embrace smart recruitment procedures using automated talent acquisition software to attract, hire, and retain the right talent.  

Rediscover Identity

Most businesses have had to go back to the drawing board. And while at it, HR can help their organizations have a strong comeback by assisting them in rediscovering their identity.

This is pretty straightforward. Those values that helped you grow your company from its inception when you probably had a zero market footprint are potent enough to help you sail through these uncertain times.

You can achieve this by breaking down your objectives and core values, then weaving them into your ideal employee personas. This way, you can create a purpose-driven workforce to help champion your goals. Once you’ve done that, you can retrain your existing teams in line with your desired objectives and hire candidates who fit the ideal employee personas.

Assembling the right teams, i.e., teams that align with the company values is a sure way of increasing employee engagement and optimizing overall performance. In a nutshell, by rediscovering their identity, organizations will be creating meaning for purpose, culture, and value. Consequently, this will improve employee experience, productivity and secure company bottom lines.

Key Takeaways

As businesses struggle to survive the current economic shocks, HR has a pivotal role in post-pandemic rebuilding. The future may still be uncertain, but organizations that focus on empowering their human resources better their post-pandemic recovery. HR can achieve this through:

• Fostering employee welfare by reevaluating and stepping up the employee benefits package.
• Supporting agility by helping businesses adapt to change using the existing resources.
• Adopting a growth mindset by harnessing the opportunities that accompany emerging challenges.
• Aligning their recruitment strategy to company goals, i.e., hiring the ideal talent to fill future skill gaps using automated talent acquisition software.
• Rediscovering identity creates meaning for purpose, value, and culture, thereby increasing employee engagement and improving company performance.

As you re-position your HR function in readiness for post-pandemic recovery, Platinum Group would like to walk the journey with you. Our HCM solution, isolved, can help you achieve more agility in your HR department and organization at large. Once you start running it, you’ll be able to manage your human resources from a single platform efficiently. Click here to view our HR Powerhouse demo.