The HR Scroll

In today’s business environment, we’ve come to accept that change is constant. Even recently, as the world came to a halt, work continued, albeit with a change in platform. The need to ‘go with the flow’ has become a given in this ever-changing and fast-paced reality.

Resilience determines how employees respond and adapt to such pressures. A resilient workforce plays a major role in accommodating and adjusting to such changes.

The Role of Resilience

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from stressful situations and keep going with an attitude of growth rather than defeat.

Research suggests that organizations need to focus on building emotional resilience in the workplace to optimize efficiency. It seems even more relevant when taking into consideration how better mental health directly impacts employee productivity. Like any employment skill, resilience can and should be developed through training and support.

Resilience can help with — 

flexibility and openness to change

fostering better communication

motivation

maintaining  focus on the goal

increasing self-awareness, thereby highlighting strengths

Resilience Training at the Workplace

According to WHO, workplace stress is costing the global economy around $1 trillion annually. Hence, not surprising that companies are turning to reformed work policies, from financial coaching to reduce employee burdens (Harrods) and four-day workweeks to yield maximum productivity (Perpetual Guardian), to virtual yoga and mindfulness exercises to ensure wellness during the pandemic (EY).

Resilient workforce development serves as a long-term approach. It does not seek to control factors that bring in stress, but rather helps employees deal with and manage these factors. And since many stressors cannot be controlled, it often makes sense to learn resilience.

Emotional resilience can be developed by encouraging the following practices:

Mindfulness

Mindfulness training has been shown to build resilience to stress, and the daily practice of about 10 to 20 minutes per day has proved to be beneficial.

Compartmentalization of Work

An often-overlooked approach, compartmentalization encourages the practice of one task at a time.

Instead of encouraging multitasking, test employees focus solely on the task at hand. Instead of working, checking emails, and other distractions, allocate time slots for different jobs. This method allows one to concentrate completely.

A systemized approach to a workday helps decrease cognitive strain and effectively deal with tasks.

Emotional Intelligence

Knowing and understanding how one’s behavior and reactions affect those around them helps employees communicate effectively. It can minimize workplace hostility, thereby building a positive environment for interactions.

Emotional intelligence can facilitate stress resilience. Developing emotional intelligence also touches upon many other factors like self-awareness, reflection, and compassion. These are all effective tools that positively impact how one reacts to situations.

Cutting Out Procrastination

Seeing as procrastination leads to stress build-up, psychologist Dr. Harry Barry recommends breaking tasks into smaller ones to help beat the urge to push taxing tasks to a later time.

Final Take

Organizations can tailor resilience training programs that exercise employee minds in the above areas with policies and outlooks that support mental health. Businesses that are flexible to market changes, and align themselves accordingly, succeed. But this can only happen when their workforce adapts as well.

We’re a few months into the hybrid working style, but are you equipped to handle the new hybrid workforce in the long run?

Here’s what needs to be taken into account –

Flexibility, But With A Balance

The most remarkable thing about the hybrid model is flexibility. The power of working from anywhere, with anyone, is what saved many businesses from shutting shop during the lockdown. However, with this flexibility in the hybrid model, there needs to be a balance between which employee comes into the office when and who. A PwC research states that for the sake of maintaining company culture, 68% of executives believe that an employee should be in the office at least thrice a week. Identifying these clusters is not simple, and therefore leadership and HR teams must chalk out a role-specific plan that favors all, while also being cautious of the prevalent virus.

Why must a certain employee work from the office on particular days? Does this employee need to collaborate with others, and if yes, up to what extent? Is this employee aware of the company’s vision and his/her role in it? Are all safety measures executed smoothly to make this employee comfortable about coming to the office?

What types of meetings must be held in person? Is it really necessary for the entire workforce to be present in the office at least one day a week? Should new joiners and low-performing employees frequent the office more often as compared to others?

These are questions employers and leaders need to have clear answers to, to prevent any disruption in the current working processes. It’s important to create a working model that gives each employee an equal share of flexibility.

Engage, Ideate, And Collaborate

With employees taking turns coming into the office, HR teams and leaders need to put in more effort towards keeping engagement levels high. Employees need to feel connected to each other despite working virtually. The essence of brainstorming together in a room needs to be maintained to produce the same interaction and output when ideating on a Zoom call. Impromptu breaks and casual conversations that often birth creativity also need to be encouraged. Fun workshops for employees, frequent internal communication, and empathetic leadership have proved to be impactful in boosting employee engagement and productivity.

Working physically apart from each other creates a disconnect that affects one’s way of thinking and working cohesively. Therefore, it is imperative to regularly have a clear and meaningful line of communication to motivate the team.

Keep An Eye Out For Talent

One of the biggest advantages of a hybrid workforce is that talent can be included from a wider pool. There are a lot of opportunities to hire candidates from different locations, people with disabilities, new mothers, and single parents, to name a few sectors that encompass a broader talent pool. Not only does it create higher job satisfaction among existing employees when working with fresh talent that suits the company culture, but it also magnifies the company’s employer branding strategies.

If you wish for your business to grow, your talent to needs to grow. Recruiting candidates from these sections can bring in new ideas and perspectives that can boost profits in the long run.

Good Leadership Requires More Effort

The global pandemic caused unprecedented changes throughout the world, especially in the way we work. With travel restrictions imposed due to social distancing measures, organizations around the world were forced to transform their work models. Now, as businesses look for new ways to combine remote work and work-from-office, hybrid working makes for an ideal solution for the future of work. However, with the nature of work currently being redesigned, businesses are now faced with another unique challenge – managing employee engagement.

Here are some effective ways to boost employee engagement during hybrid working:

1.  Send out care packages: Working from home, while juggling personal and professional responsibilities, is bound to take a toll on employee wellbeing. Without the ability to meet their colleagues regularly or hold in-person meetings, employees are likely to feel a lack of connection. A great way of bridging this gap could be sending out thoughtful care packages. A simple gesture like this assures the employees that their company values them, which not only builds an emotional connection but also maximizes productivity.

2.  Give importance to onboarding: Onboarding and employee engagement are linked more closely than we can imagine. When an employee gets off to a great start, it lays the foundation for a long-lasting and meaningful partnership. Connecting well with them as they get accustomed to the new company culture is a great place to start. Alternatively, putting yourself in their shoes would help to think of new ideas to create a happy workplace for a new employee.

3.  Acknowledge their efforts: It goes without saying that employees like to be appreciated for their work. With remote & hybrid working impacting employees in more ways than one, the onus lies on organizations to make sure that good work doesn't go unnoticed. Expressing gratitude with a simple thank you note or paying a compliment for a job well done,  goes a long way in strengthening employee morale.

4.  Gather feedback regularly: The pandemic has also altered the way businesses gather feedback from their employees. Short, real-time surveys are increasingly becoming popular. HR teams can roll out personalized surveys to understand how employees feel about their work. Alternatively, managers can conduct one-on-one virtual meetings with employees to take stock of their well-being and identify areas for improvement. These surveys provide actionable insights that not only help businesses improve employee engagement but also pivot in the right direction with strategic planning.

5. Focus on upskilling & reskilling: Successful hybrid working would rely heavily on creating a continuous learning environment. As the world of work evolves, it’s important that businesses invest in employee development programs to bridge knowledge or skill gaps. Upskilling employees with short-term and long-term goals in mind prepares a hybrid workplace for the ever-changing business landscape. The right set of skills gives employees the freedom to take ownership of their career growth, thereby promoting better productivity. 

So where do you see yourself in the next five years? What are your strengths and weaknesses? How good are you at networking? A typical interview-setting conversation would look something like this. Those who are potential hires come ready with choreographed answers appearing as the best choice the organization could make. A few months down the line and you start questioning as to whether hiring the candidate was the right decision or not. In times like these which are becoming commonplace concerns, it is important to be creative and look beyond what the candidate answers to the usual questions. Thinking outside the box has become more imperative since most companies have opted for remote hiring, and thus need to use other metrics to identify if a candidate is a perfect fit for the company.

Conversations Over Coffee

A few good conversations by different members of the team can unravel more than you think. Team managers often lead the potential hires to their own comfort zones so that they feel safe to talk about the unwritten truths on their resumes. Though there are companies that fail to attach importance to employee value propositions, there are times when candidates try to camouflage their own mistakes and push the blame on companies. Additional stress should be given to value-based questions to examine if they are a good cultural and team fit.

Tests To Uncover Traits

Conducting short personality tests is key to understanding a candidate’s strengths and whether they have the behavioral traits necessary for the role. Aptitude tests can be made mandatory in the screening process to measure abilities relevant to the job. This serves as an effective strategy for remote hiring. Companies can also proactively invite candidates for job trials to evaluate their skills required for the job. At times, a pool of candidates is asked to compete against one another and challenged to complete certain tasks. This displays the candidates’ abilities to show their merit, culture fit, and power of collaboration.

Moreover, a letter of recommendation from the previous employer/s or manager/s is considered a valued document. It highlights that a candidate has been a consistent performer and will be an asset to any company.

More Than Merit

Talent acquisition professionals must conduct an in-depth background check to verify their criminal records, driving records, educational and professional history to uncover issues that can pop up as a red flag. They also need to undertake stringent reference checks to seek information about the candidate that could make or break the decision. Reference checks have become more crucial in the remote hiring process because of the ongoing pandemic. Framing the right open-ended situation-based questions is an effective means to deep dive into a candidate’s history and fitment.