HR POST COVID-19: WHY WE CANNOT WASH OUR HANDS OF THIS ONE

HR POST COVID-19: WHY WE CANNOT WASH OUR HANDS OF THIS ONE

Building back better following the Covid-19 pandemic is the hot topic right now, and quite rightly so. I guess the first thing to consider is whether we really are in a post Covid-19 place yet, or whether we are still en route.

As all islanders are aware, Guernsey is fortunate to have had a long period of time with no active cases (as of time of writing this) so you could say we are well on our way to that post Covid-19 place, but until the rest world catches up, we will not wholly be there.

The States of Guernsey is looking at our strategy to achieve recovery post Covid-19 through the ‘Revive and Thrive’ document produced in June. The recovery strategy sets out ‘People and Skills’ as one of the bedrocks to make Guernsey a great place to do business.

As an HR practitioner, this is music to my ears; people are the foundation of any successful business and they are our greatest asset – it is heartening to know that our government feels the same post lockdown and (potentially) post Covid-19, is the perfect time for not only the government, but also our businesses to look into our people and skills and to see whether our strategies are aligned for recovery as well as for sustainability, and even growth.

It is time for us to reassess what we should be doing with our workforce, including training and re-skilling workers, improving employee engagement, and investing in innovative workplace practices that will secure a sustainable and economic future for us and in turn, our island.

Lockdown forced us to change our working ways with some of us working from home, working on reduced hours and rates, and some of us sadly not being able to work at all. Now that we are out of lockdown, it is time to reflect; we need to look at what worked and did not work before and during this time, as Dr Brink so often said, we need to rely on the evidence and then adjust our businesses
processes based on results.

Whilst working with my clients, one of the common themes arising now is introducing formal flexible working and working from home policies. Lockdown gave us a unique trial period to assess the viability of flexible working and with proper thought, these types of policies could be incredibly beneficial to your business and employees.

Producing sensible and well-planned flexible working policies is but one example where HR (be it an in-house or outsourced function) can assist your business.

Whatever the shape, size or focus of your business, we can help you to align your HR function to keep your business strategy on the collaborative revive and thrive route.

Contact Vicki to discuss how Leapfrog’s HR and payroll services can benefit your business.