The world had stopped!
The world has become unpredictable. COVID-19 has left all the sectors frozen except for the essential services, which also had confronted many challenges. The economy has been shattered by the unexpected measures taken in these unprecedented times but that has to be done to ensure the safety of employees, employers, daily laborers, etc. The employers had to think of alternative solutions to reduce financial loss and to ensure business continuity. The strategies were formulated by Human Resources in collaboration with the teams responsible for ‘business continuity plans.’
SMEs have taken a major hit as they cannot continue the operations and also, they cannot afford to pay the employees. Some had to even shut down their businesses. That does not mean the large companies were safe. Everyone is into this pandemic situation together, and every single person has been striving to ensure continuity in lives as well as business. By May, 67 percent of workers have lost their jobs due to the crisis.
Besides, it was highly impossible for manufacturing companies of non-essential services to function as it was harder to maintain the social distancing norms. The manufacturing sector sustained heavy losses especially the automobile industry. However, the employees are returning to work in August, and employers have planned to work with 50% of the workforce in each shift to follow the health guidelines.
For the IT sector, remote working has become the new normal. Remote working is not a new phenomenon. Few companies like Buffer and Ghost were already working virtually. Many larger organizations like Amazon had once-in-a-week work from home policy. This pandemic has forced companies to embrace remote working for the entire workforce for more than five months.
How did the companies cope with the new normal?
Technology has become a Reliable Friend to IT Sector
IT sector has however managed to find a way to operate their businesses with fewer interruptions and minimal losses. The whole sector went online. It was a very difficult task for HR departments as they had to ensure the safety of employees and check whether the resources were available to employees to seamlessly work. On top of that, they should also keep their employees engaged and motivated. Tech tools became the savior to Human Resources, top management, and managers.
People-centric organizations would have found it easier to shift when compared to companies with stringent work rules. The people-centric organization would already have the required tools to manage the remote employees, but the other companies had to figure out a solution to manage and engage employees, implement the tool, and check its integration with the system. Without technology, the situation would have been worse.
The engagement was a Problem; But Not Anymore
How to engage employees? How to keep them motivated and not feel isolated? These were the major problems HR confronted after setting up systems for employees at work. This was a major concern and the deciding factor of the business continuity. But employees cooperated and worked harder than expected. And employers too trusted them. The employers, to manage employee performance and also to engage them, leveraged various tools such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google meet, Slack, Skype, Synergita, even Whatsapp. Initially, managers felt disconnected with the team members, but they started to adapt to the new normal and came up with strategies that can be game-changers.
The managers started doing the following activities.
- Continuous check-ins
- Listening to the concerns of the employees
- Frequent video calls or even audio to check the status of a project
- Giving autonomy rather than micromanaging the employees
- Taking their feedback seriously and taking action on them
Some managers do not conduct continuous check-ins. That is because the organization would not have provided the proper training to the managers in leadership skills or handling the crisis.
HR Conducted Fun Activities to Engage Employees
- HRs conducted a meeting with fun activities once-in-a-week.
- They called and checked up on every employee to ensure that they are safe and healthy.
- Arranged sessions and training programs to help employees improve their interpersonal skills.
- A warm-up session every morning for ten minutes.
- Giving flexibility in working.
If you are not a company that does not follow this, then it is high time you start implementing these and see the results for yourself.
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The Right Time to Perform Surveys
Data is everything in today’s world. Everyone knows about companies lining up to purchase the operation rights of TikTok in India and the US. Why do you think so? Because the platform consists of data, the likes, dislikes, the wants and needs of every user. Similarly, to run successfully even after COVID-19, employers should conduct a survey on how employees feel about working online, returning to work, and other systems. Taking the survey is not enough, but acting on it is a must. Managers and employees have been through a lot and their mindsets would have changed. The ideas would have changed. Taking a survey at this time is perfect as it would give you a lot of actionable insights. Data-driven strategies have been proven to be successful.
Types of Surveys
- Employee view and satisfaction survey: The organization would have taken drastic measures to bring the situation under control, which would not have left them time to think about the employees’ thoughts. Taking a survey now can help analyze the attitudes and views of employees about the organization. Depending upon the results, the management can come up with ways to continue the trust or improve it.
- Employee culture survey: The culture that has taken years to build has become useful in keeping the employees together while working remotely. However, it is highly ambiguous whether the culture is strong enough to keep the workforce together for these many months. The culture survey can help to reinforce the core values of the organization and analyze the adherence level of employees to the core values. (Try Synergita’s culture score to measure it!)
- Employee Engagement Surveys. Employee engagement surveys help to measure the engagement level of employees and how motivated they are. The insightful results enable you to build a people-friendly culture.
How Questions Should be Framed in a Survey?
The survey questions should not be open-ended as the employees hate writing answers to open-ended questions. The questions should be specific with minimum options. The questions should be prepared based on an expert’s advice. To get the maximum data, the surveys should be easier to fill in and make the work easier for the employees as well as the employers who go through it. Employees are taking their time out of work to fill in surveys, so the survey forms should be specific enough to make them answer well.
For instance. If the question was, do you like working from home?
The employees would answer, yes or no.
What would be the insight from that? Nothing.
Be more specific and ask them. Do you overwork in the work from home period? From the answer, you can deduce what the employee feels. Were you able to improve your work-life balance? If no, how can we help you improve?
This is how questions should be.
PS. Only if you take action on the surveys or feedback, the employees will show interest in filling it up authentically. Also, taking action helps in building mutual trust.
Stay safe and engaged.