As the pandemic and lockdown around the globe draw to hold, we are finally able to see some clarity into the post-pandemic life. Business owners and HR leaders look forward to adapting themselves and their employees from recovery and onto the work field. Most firms are rebuilding from the ground up whereas others shifted to a platform to keep things running. The management and owners of such businesses now rely on hard work and determination to bring their organizations to the previous standings, yet individual talents in this regard cannot be overlooked.

Utilizing the pre-covid format and skillsets in the post-pandemic world will definitely prove to be a hassle. HR leaders and Firms are in the race to upload versatile minds and workers into their newly planned systems. Making a higher demand for skilled, capable and tactical minds in this new revolution to uprise businesses. With the current workforce, however, a few key changes are due to be implemented to tackle this change. Here are the top 5 HR skills your organization needs to rebuild itself.

Agility: 

Improvise, adapt, and overcome, the key pointers associated with survival which perfectly tie in with the current struggles of upholding a business during a pandemic. Being ready to be agile to whatever the world throws at you, gives you a significant advantage in the business world. Business owners and management should look into being agile when it comes to recovering from the pandemic as well as shifting from platform to platform. Having certain HR tools such as PeopleSonic at your disposal allows HR leaders to make an educated workforce and future planning decisions.

Change Management/Communication: 

Being agile to change is one thing, and managing throughout the change transition period is another. Both are vital and go hand in hand during such recovery periods. The management should be at the forefront of change, leading and planing from the frontline to accommodate their workers’ mobility throughout the process. Communication is the pivot that determines the pace and effectiveness of the procedure. Keeping employees aware of strategical and tactical changes will allow for a clean shift in gear. Thorough and detailed briefs followed by constant updates through a well-communicated medium will surely keep the bearings turning smoothly.

Managing wellbeing/safety: 

Your employees and the environment that surrounds them are key components in the success of a company. Many wrongly believe that intense work practices and having a constantly pressurized environment keep employees on their feet. This couldn’t be further from the truth, as they are the entire driving force of an organization so ultimately keeping their wellbeing and psychological safety in check is a priority. Post pandemic concerns are definitely not off the table yet as lingering viruses are still present, so constructing a healthy ambiance is necessary.

Strategic Workforce Planning: 

Workforce and planning without a strategy in play that too during a recovery/building phase is an obtuse decision. Having a set tactical plan set for the future is imperative. Strategic Workforce Planning covers employee experiences, development of roles, succession planning, and scenario strategies. Being prepared for different obstacles and crisis are condemnable, but planning to prevent such events from happening are far superior. Businesses that opt for such an approach are known to have a strong HR approach while grasping every opportunity given.

Compliance: 

Tackling the typical HR tasks during a pandemic proved to be strenuous, with constant evolvements and law changes, the constant updates did not help the situation. Therefore using and ultimately shifting to HR Software is the move for the post-pandemic agenda. Allowing for such tools to relieve time by handling tasks such as payroll, performance management, time management, and the core HR functionality is the goal. HR teams need to be compliant, whilst maintaining their time management will dedicate and open up further growth possibilities.

 

How brands, businesses, and organizations tackle the recovery period will ultimately define and streamline their efforts in achieving success. Therefore being compliant and orchestrating changes are the signs of a competent HR leader, who develops their own skills and aids the workforce to thrive.

Employee Self Service or ESS for short is a feature integrated into all modern HR software. ESS allows access to a string of data regarding HR, personal data, and such related information. The key highlight of ESS is in its name, Employee Self Service, the data which would otherwise need an HR representative to maintain, is now in the hands of each employee, at least their own data due to obvious privacy concerns. This simple yet highly effective move saves on precious resources such as time and money. Some companies are heavily invested in the idea whereas some may not prefer it due to the size and nature of their own. 

ESS is not only for employees but for the management as well, as MSS or Management Self Service is often linked and incorporated within the ESS. This often refers to Managers overlooking and aiding employee matters that were needed, but more importantly, having an administrator to handle any situation. The link between the hierarchy is, therefore, kept intact much like the integration between the ESS and your HR software.

It is already integrated into the HR systems and requires no extra fiddling around on the back-end. Usually, such self-service portals are under the HR department’s supervision but for greater efficiency, personal log-ins are assigned to the employees. Still, seem a little unconvincing to you? The following host of features will surely provide the clarity and knowledge you need.

 

Features of ESS

• Personal Info: ESS will allow employees to update their info and personal details by themselves, cutting out the middle-man (HR). This allows for a more streamlined process and prevents long application submission and updating.
• Leaves: Here the employees will have complete access to their current leave situation whether it be related to leave balance or requesting for leaves.
• Programs: Direct log-ins will allow open-access to enroll in benefits programs or other similar schemes.
  
• Policies/Rules: As policies and rules are often updates, sometimes they may go under the radar of most employees. With ESS a few clicks will get the relevant policies up on your screen.
  
• Payroll: Financing is a particular field, especially when payroll is involved. With self-servicing, Employees will have complete access to previous salary slips, pay cut information, taxes, time-logs, reimbursements, and all relevant data associated with their payroll in general.
  
• HR reports: Such analytics will provide the users more clarity in terms of KPI’s and set goals in comparison to their performances during a defined period. This also helps the HR department as a whole.

 

Benefits of ESS

• Engagement: The ESS tool is great for boosting employee engagement and have them update each detail when required. It acts as a new medium to engage in the existing HR software.
  
• Greater Efficiency: As each employee is responsible for their own data, this speeds up the process by a large margin and even decreases the chance of mistakes within the details.
  
• Autonomy: The integrated bit of software from the central management access point allows for the employee to access and edit their data whenever needed without hesitation.
  
• Ease of burden: The introduction of ESS into an office ecosystem drastically eases the load on the HR department which would manually have to amend any changes requested. Not to mention the processing time it may take to achieve a minor task. HR and Managers do however still have all the admin rights to oversee the changes in order to administer effectively.
  
• Easy access: Since the system is entirely digital, it acts as the perfect medium for dispersed teams or even when on the go. This saves time on having to reach out to the HR team which may be located in a foreign place.
  
• Green/Environmentally friendly: An alternative bonus of ESS is the sheer amount of paper being saved. As such office work requires a series of documentation and updates. The system saves a lot of paper while preventing excessive waste.

 

Is there a catch?

ESS is no doubt a valuable addition to any organization’s arsenal and boasts a series of benefits along with features as mentioned. However, a major drawback would be for each employee to familiarize themselves with the software, as understanding is key for the implementation to be successful. This may lead to communication gaps, incorrect data, and a learning curve from manual to the digital entry system.

If your company is already using an integrated HR Management Software such as PeopleSonic, this won’t be an issue as the interface is very similar to the rest and can easily be adopted into the workflow. As the ESS integration goes hand in hand with HR software, opting for solid HR Management Software shouldn’t be overlooked!

 

Employee engagement always comes across as this important but immeasurable quality that organizations are wishing for – the reality is that while it is indeed an important metric, it’s also measurable. But before we get to that, let’s quickly remind ourselves why employee engagement is a critical factor that can determine the success of your company.

What is Employee Engagement?

Employee engagement can broadly be defined as the initiative and effort an employee puts in all their work endeavors, often as a result of job satisfaction which can be attributed to aspects such as satisfactory wages, nurturing work environment, suitable career growth trajectory and more.

Employee engagement is a metric that feeds into itself; workers satisfied with their jobs will continue to engage more at work; engaged employees will be motivated to perform even better and obtain greater job satisfaction from achievements, awards and growth. This self-replicating nature of employee engagement makes it an essential ingredient for the success and evolution of any organization.

What are the Impacts of High Employee Engagement?

We’ve seen that high employee engagement is a self-sustaining model, once the core requirement of “job satisfaction” is fulfilled. What makes it a key success metric is the impact a highly engaged workforce has on a business. A full analysis of the impacts is a discussion for another blog, but in summary, here are some major takeaways you can expect:

•         High productivity – A motivated team is a productive team. You’ll find such employee clock in punctually, waste less time in the office and are delivering higher quality work in the same, or less amount of time.
•         Nurturing workplace environment – As we’ve discussed a few times already, an office environment that is conducive to a positive, healthy mindset can transform the workplace. Motivated and highly engaged employees can play a significant role in promoting such an environment and mindset and assure greater success for the business and its workforce both.
•         Increased revenue – It’s a straight line from an engaged and productive workforce in a nurturing environment to increased revenues and profits for the organization. In fact, that is a sure shot way to demonstrate to the organization’s steering committee / board of governors the true value of employee engagement.
•         Decreased costs – The other side of the increased revenue coin is another positive! When your employees are happy and engaged at work, they won’t be jumping ship at the first available opportunity. This increases the chances of projects being delivered on time, successfully, as there will be no need to hire replacements for skilled employees mid-project. This also helps driving down the associated costs of hiring those replacements too, which is a significant saving!

How Does One Measure Employee Engagement?

By looking at the value employee engagement brings to any business, you can easily consider the inverse of those propositions and see the kind of negative financial and organizational impact a workforce with a lack of engagement would bring. That’s why it is necessary for the business, through HR, to be observing markers of employee engagement, such as tracking time and punctuality.

These trackable markers aren’t definitive, of course, but can be used, in conjunction with surveys and investigations into employee wellness, job and career satisfaction, and growth prospects: all metrics we previously linked directly to employee engagement. These surveys need to be well thought out, as the qualitative data amassed will be critical to identifying the state of the employees. We’ll be discussing the minutiae of such surveys and fact-finding investigations in a later blog.

Boosting Employee Engagement Means Business Success

The bottom line is very simple here: if you provide your employees with the requisite job satisfaction they seek, they will become engaged, highly motivated and help the business succeed to newer heights. Emphasis on providing job satisfaction, which is the fundamental way of boosting employee engagement.

As discussed above, job satisfaction can broadly be attributed to salaries, career growth and prospects, and workplace culture. The solution thus becomes apparent: By providing your workforce with adequate compensation for their work, assuring them of a better and brighter professional future and establishing a supportive and positive space in which to perform their duties, you can set your business up for guaranteed success!