One year into the pandemic, adapting to the new normal

Mid-size companies have historically struggled with new HR technologies to support the workforce. And this has been further exacerbated by Covid-19 and the consequent emergence of new work models.

Suffice it to say, traditional models that were deployed as measures for productivity and compliance are no longer sufficient. With a growing emphasis on employee centricity in the workplace, there’s an increasing need in communication, wellness, and safety technologies.  

Those on the circuit are likely to have heard the terms “remote” and “hybrid” in discussions regarding today’s work environments. Let’s take a moment to understand both these work models.

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Remote work: Remote work is a working style that permits employees to work outside of a conventional office climate. It depends on the idea that work shouldn't be done in a particular spot to be executed effectively. Read more about remote work here.

Hybrid work:  Hybrid work is a model where employees can partially work from office, while at times doing a portion of their work from outside the workplace (for the most part their home. Read more about it here.

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Adapting to the new normal

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Traditional annual and quarterly processes that HR teams are used to don’t work with these working models. HR teams need to become agile, evaluate data constantly, and look to deploy systems capable of the following  

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1. Employee recognition

Physical distance prevents us from the joys of those in-person high-fives that we could give our coworkers. But a wall of recognition could substitute that and enable employees to recognise their peers.

Recognition is critical to boosting morale and maintaining the work culture. Ergo, it is recommended to encourage employees to recognize peers who have demonstrated the company’s values with their abilities.

2. Employee Wellness

Augment your traditional quarterly employee surveys with light-weight weekly pulse surveys to obtain a detailed assessment of employee morale and stress levels. Consequently, this enables managers to draw effective action plans to support their employees.

3. Employee communication

Utilise employee communication platforms to keep your hybrid and remote employees abreast about developments within the company, ranging from company policy announcements, desk blocking policies, attendance, to employee wellness programs.

4. Remote attendance tracking

In order to manage a hybrid workforce, organizations should have the ability to track attendance to ensure that the workplace is in line with regulations. Therefore, it is imperative to have the appropriate documentation in place for employees to productively work in a hybrid model.

5. Productivity and performance

It’s time to admit that the traditional annual and semi-annual review processes are simply relics without a purpose. To manage and execute their work more effectively, managers must realign their targets to a daily or weekly basis, and must equip themselves with the right task management tools to help them and their teams to stay on track.     

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6. Leave policies

With major restrictions on travel, employees don’t have alternative places to go and disconnect from work, which leads to long stretches of continuous work. Managers have the responsibility of evaluating employee work hours and accordingly encouraging them to take a well-deserved time-off. This requires clear visibility into each employee’s leave and attendance information.

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At peopleHum, our mission has been providing one-stop-shop HR solutions for mid-size companies. We are glad to let you know the all of the above scenarios are fully supported along with the traditional HR processes such as – performance management, learning, employee file management, people analytics and recruiting.  We are also one of the few solutions that can provide all these capabilities via mobile phone as well.  

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We are helping a number of African businesses, such as ONOMO Hotels, Acorn Holdings, Green Africa, and MKOBO Bank. They are a few among a number of African businesses that trust peopleHum to manage their vital HR functions and the evolving work model. Take a look at our offerings and perhaps make a leap into your future workplace?