What’s on HR’s “to do” list for 2021?
The year 2020 has been a time of unprecedented acceleration in the area of Human Resources. People-related trends and initiatives that have been on the priority list of many HR professionals for a long time have been implemented at an incredible speed, resulting in a global overnight shift for organisations of all sizes across the globe.
Although we are still facing a global pandemic, 2021 is a very different year than its predecessor. Discussions are now focused on the way forward in the post-pandemic world. Let’s take a look at some of the HR priorities that have made it to the “to do” list of many of us:
- Employee Wellbeing
Before 2020, employee-wellbeing was considered secondary in terms of priority, today, it is taken more seriously as a major responsibility of organisations, and will continue this way through 2021. Supporting employee-wellbeing this year is focused on the on-going COVID-19 situation, and on continuously refining and adapting the “new norm” of work to provide effective social and mental support for employees. - Hybrid Office
Organisations around the world are now considering long-term strategies for their work approaches. Multiple researches have revealed a consistent preference among employees for a balanced home-office work approach. Our role, as HR professionals is to find ways of adapting to the new market demands, capitalising on technology, to support our businesses to recover and further grow. - Critical Leadership Skills
The pandemic proved that it is not only business results that are dependent on leaders, but also the people to a great unprecedented extent. Leaders that were able to inspire trust, build strong relationships with colleagues and subordinates and communicate with transparency and consistency, proved to be more effective in pushing organisations forward during uncertain times. A continuous investment in developing leaders beyond their business or commercial acumen is now more important than ever. - Super Teams
Fostering higher levels of collaboration among employees has been highly discussed and debated. Many organisations consider collaboration as a core competency and sustained efforts are deployed consistently through various initiatives. Yet, what we’ve observed in 2020 goes beyond these initiatives and competencies. When faced with unprecedented challenges, the interaction between various divisions and departments has increased organically. Employees came together, and supported and depended on each other to continue driving results. And so, a new term has been added to the HR vocabulary called “Super Teams”. In 2021, the challenge is to learn from this experience, to identify what brings together these “super teams”, and how we can continue building this level of commitment and engagement in the future. - Reinventing the Employee Experience
Take a moment and think of the experience of a new employee hired in the pre-COVID era, from the moment he goes through the interviewing process, to his first day of work starting with the onboarding process, to socialising with colleagues. Imagine now the whole process without real-life interactions, with a 100% online experience. Would he perform the same way?
In 2021, HR’s role is to rethink the entire employee journey, considering the employee’s virtual experience and to ensure equal opportunities for all people.
