5 HR Trends Emerging from Covid-19

A lot is happening within the landscape of HR, especially after the arrival of COVID-19. Much has been written about the “Future of Work”. But, the Future of Work has actually already arrived. Despite this, you still see many organizations struggling with this issue. Organizations in the Netherlands and Belgium are having a hard time. All the changes with working from home, changing roles, the new search for the ideal work-life balance ensure that HR leaders have their hands and agendas full.

We also see that after the pandemic, many HR leaders are now looking at processes and systems more critically than ever. In addition, they see that the well-being of the people has become even more important than it already was. But, here it comes; leaders still find it difficult to link the issues together. A good example is that there is often the perception that if you automate a process with the result that an employee loses his or her tasks, this is at odds with a people-first policy. What about employee well-being? This is a major misconception that is thankfully fading. By automating one or more processes and making certain manual tasks superfluous, you are not only facilitating your own organization, but also the person(s) affected by this. You get the chance to look at the skills and commitment of such a person in a different way. You can empower someone even more. 

You can already see larger organizations pre-sorting for this. Researchers from Gartner, McKinsey and Deloitte have further investigated this over the past year and the five trends have emerged from this. These are the trends seen among the HR leaders of large and leading organizations:

1. Making people-first the top priority in the organization

More than 80% have indicated in Deloitte’s annual Global Human Capital survey that people-first is absolutely the number one priority for the organization and its success. It’s not just about the employee, it’s about the person. Empathy is ever more important. The employer has a crucial role in removing unnecessary stress from the employee. Employees now experience a lot of stress with finding the right balance with home, sports, and tools to work remotely. The more you help and make an employee happy, the more productive they are. 

2. Inclusion is a critical factor for a high-performance organization

Although this trend is similar to the first, this trend is actually about the connection between people. As HR, it is crucial that people feel at home and feel like they belong. The emotional connection ensures that employees perform better inpidually and as a team. Especially in times of and after a pandemic. 

3. Re-evaluating and mapping skills

A trend that is a difficult one for organizations; re-evaluating and redesigning skills. You do this based on how work will look or how it should look. To this day, it is still being looked at how it looks now. Various studies show that critically evaluating the skills, especially together with the employee, leads to better results. Both for the employee and for the organization itself.

4. Transforming efficiency into resilience

Harvard Business Review recently published an article showing some previous research that Mckinsey has already shown; organizations that embed resilience and flexibility in their strategy and working methods perform significantly better financially. We are talking here about a higher ROI of 150% to 500% on the value of the organization itself.

5. Flexible teams independent of location

More than 46% of professionals indicate that an ideal work-life balance is essential for a happy life. In addition, 87% of HR professionals say flexible work programs contribute to happier employees. Being able to work flexibly, independent of a physical location, ensures less stress and better results.