You should know the changes in HR policies post Pandemic

Have you been wondering what life would be after the pandemic? Undoubtedly, more than once. There’s this ongoing discussion about how workplaces would change, how the policies will have to be modified, and how employees will adjust to the new normal.

The pandemic turned a new leaf in organizations, with increased importance of Human Resources Management as organizations switched to remote working and managing employees working from various locations. The initial days were uncertain, with talks about cost-cutting, downsizing, etc. But with time, the role of HR transitioned to focussing more on supporting the employees, allowing them to cope with the changes and ease the stress they were undergoing because of various reasons. The trouble of maintaining the work-life balance, handling remote work, the uncertain working hours, the communication gap and the growing distances all posed challenges, and the role of HR became even more complex.

However, now that the world has adjusted to the so called new normal, the organizations have to now follow new working policies and accept the guidelines that ensure employee safety and well-being while keeping the organization functioning efficiently.

A survey by Josh Bersin, MIT Sloan Management Review and CultureX, found that, “the top concern for HR heads is the health and wellbeing of the employees with 41% then managing the remote work in the second place with 39% whereas the results of survey of the top concern of employees is the financial security with 81% then in the second place the health and wellbeing with 56%.” This in turn highlights the areas that need more attention or change.

What would be the major aspects that define changes in the HR policies after Pandemic?

•             Flexibility in working hours, locations, and even the processes.

•             The fully remote and hybrid approach of working

•             Inclusion of contract workers and freelancers

•             The focus on skills and upgrades

•             Making employees' future ready, cross-functional training, etc.

 As stated by employment lawyer Goh Seow Hui, partner at Bird & Bird, “With COVID, companies had to start thinking about sanitisation and monitoring employee health. And with vaccinations, companies have to think: what do we do with people who refuse it? Do we allow them to travel? So renewed awareness on employee health and safety will remain.”

It hence becomes pertinent to be aware of the HR policies that will stick around after the pandemic.

Remote Work Policy

While in the beginning, infrastructure and technological readiness posed a challenge, with the progressing months, the priorities and challenges changed. The HR policies were constantly being changed to accommodate the change in employee work hours owing to existing living arrangements, children, connectivity issues and the limited resources provided. The remote work policy hence doesn’t just touch upon the work culture, but extends to employee engagement and employee well-being too.

Remote working policies post pandemic would be about aligning the employees with the organization’s goals and building self-managed teams that can function well, even through virtual interactions and collaborations.

The aspects that ensure engagement here are open communication, providing employees more flexibility, and regular checks to identify and remove any obstacles that influence their performance.

Health Policies

The one thing that has changed significantly during the pandemic is the outlook towards health and safety. A survey reports that, “Employees’ mental health could be affected by the Covid-19 pandemic because of the job insecurity and financial loss as well as the Infobesity and the unknown.”

Health and wellness benefits are going to be a game changer. Our entire health care system continues to evolve with the private-sector and therefore the public-sector communities working to repair what seems to be a comparatively broken system. That is getting to change the role of HR professionals within the foreseeable future.”

What started with organizations issuing policies that make masks, temperature checks and sanitisation compulsory, has now expanded to physical and mental wellness policies. Organizations have started to include telehealth and virtual healthcare coverage, to assist employees who are unable to schedule in-person appointments.

Regular checks to monitor stress and anxiety levels are becoming mandatory too, owing to the growing mental fatigue experienced by employees. Empathy and compassion with access to resources that help in maintaining mental health hence, will be aspects covered in the HR policies.

Leave and absences

The fragility of health has never been this real. However, for organizations, this means unexpected absences and the struggle between getting achieving the goals. Globally defined governance rules relatively cover the aspects of leaves and renumeration. However, there are differences in the application for public and private sectors, as certain policies like sick days, vacation time, or paid leaves may differ too. With globalization and its impact on all industries, talks about common policies that are beneficial for the employees become more important and giving them an inclusive workplace becomes necessary too.

The role of HR will hence become more and more critical during the post pandemic era. While keeping up with the compliance changes, the change in demographic of employees, the attitudes and the attributes that drive human behaviour, the responsibility of building teams that are productive and working together are all aspects that HR will be equally involved with. As the organizations switch to new workplace processes, the HR policies too will have to be intuitive to bring out the best within the employees and to ensure employee engagement and retention.