New Normal Guidelines & What Enterprises Can To Do About It.
One of the major lessons that Covid 19 has taught the world is, ‘There are no Experts’. Nobody in the world could see this coming, and these are strange times that we are living in.
Example, at the start of 2020, technologists were talking about hacking Human Brains and going to MARS. Today we are in a situation where we cannot step out of the house. The effect would be different to different sectors, we don’t think a standard BCP model is applicable here.
For productivity, going ahead, the organizations will need to adopt the Fives S’s:
- Survival
- Basic Services to stakeholders
- Starting operations post lockdown
- Shape the future in new normal
- Sustain this period
Keeping the Organization Agile and Productive
One of the key factors for any organization to stay Agile and Productive is team collaboration. A lot of study mentions that Teams that work together collaboratively will report higher productivity and agility. While many employees are working from home these days there are a few things which should be followed to ensure productivity in smaller teams like having regular cadence calls at least twice a day and practising Good Leadership which will focus on the Business Outcomes now and in the future.
Manage your WFH Employees On the Go
Geo-Fencing Mobile-based Punch – in /Punch – out will be making sure that the attendance is marked for the day employees have worked on and it will give you a digitally connected workforce. It enables businesses to ensure performance and productivity. Along with focusing on Employee Efficiency businesses should also take employees working hours into consideration.
Keep Employees in The Loop
During these critical times, Enterprises should make sure that communicating Emergencies, Major Announcements etc seamlessly is the top priority. Every employee has worked hard and enterprises should keep them up to date and connect with them.
Upskill Yourself
“Keep Training and Keep Learning Until You Get it Right” Learning will never go waste and using tools like learning management system will benefit you a lot. Studying new courses, learning new domains will help you in expanding your array. With the learning management system in place, you ensure Contactless Knowledge and Information Dissemination.
Business Continuity & Productivity Going Forward
Most of the organizations have always kept remote working as an option, as a backup, as a crisis scenario fighting tool. So this is a rude awakening for all organizations on how they can transform their way of working, to be remote, to be effective, that is what is going to be one of the important factors for survival in this crisis.
Productivity, in this situation, where we do not know how the world will look, will depend upon how we communicate with our people, how we are able to cross skill them and how to make the best of their time and skill.
One thing that is often neglected is the importance of continuous engagement with the employees. Having a strong communication model in place will ensure that the productivity will not drop.We are all very clear that these are unprecedented times and we all acknowledge across the industries. We live in an ecosystem, where everything is affected by each other.
Now it’s important how we sustain this period and how we are going to change once the Covid is over.
5 Key Pointers we should look at:
- When we say productivity – an important factor is learning and engagement. For online training, audio and video are already in place, so the key thing is engaging the learners.
- Modus operandi of business will change. So it’s important to think on how we move our current traditional process to a complete digital one.
- To come out shining from this Covid 19 situation, we have to go to the first principle approach, ‘You don’t follow an analogy and start thinking from scratch’.
- In post Covid World, the ratio of physical to digital will be the opposite. You will not be able to survive without digital presence.
- ‘Out of Sight Out of Mind’ will have to change. Your employees are working remotely. How will you keep them engaged?
There are critical and non-critical activities that are mapped out in every industry. In this pandemic, most of the admin, logistics and HR team are trying to expand their BCP plans to include the corona situation into it.
In all industries 4 standard practices have been implemented:
- Employees are given remote connectivity.
- Large data are made available to them online.
- MIS employees have been given large RAMS.
- Autonomy has been given to people to access a wide range of data.
Post Lockdown Effects on Businesses
Effect would be varied. Like for some industries it would be driven by lockdown. Manufacturing per se, can be sorted in a couple of weeks post the lockdown. Tourism and entertainment are the worst affected industries. Recovery here will happen in phases. This is the time to create a sustainable business model.
Work From Home Guidelines: for Working Women
There are various difficulties that are being faced by everyone, especially women during this lockdown; who are trying to strike a work-life and family balance. Many surveys for working married women have been conducted and all emphasized that workload has increased in lockdown as compared to pre-COVID. Many emphasized empathy from organizations in terms of working hours and meetings, and general guidelines irrespective of gender.
Communication needs to be transparent with female employees and expectations need to be set. Everyone has lost the differentiation between workdays and holidays.
Many organizations are considering various aspects like liquid working. It is important to have fewer, but focused hours of work when you are WFH to ensure that the quality of output at work is really superior. Also, ensure that women should only accept deadlines that they can actually deliver on. Finally, have a very transparent relationship with your manager for setting expectations.
- The policy should be applicable to both genders and companies should be able to frame the working hours and meeting hours. Long meetings need to be avoided.
- Currently, we need to delegate the work which was previously done collaboratively and then collaborate. We need to roll between fixed hours and variable hours.
- Like while working from the office, many women leave early and then login again from home. There is a need to maintain that balance in WFH as well.
If women are in a senior leadership role they may have to work in different time zones, maybe twice or thrice a week. They should have the flexibility to take 3-4 hours off during the day because they need to be up at night. So flexibility and customization are important; you cannot be working 24 hours a day. Organizations need to judge women employees or all employees based on their outcome and productivity rather than working hours. Companies need to start caring rather than curing people with policies.
Sector-Wise Reboot Initiatives
Here are a few things SMEs & MSME’s will be taking into consideration:
- Customer will still be the King
They will have to make sure that interacting with their customers and being transparent with them will be very beneficial. Customers should be updated about your operations and they should be given confidence that you will be able to provide quality services to them. - Plan Your HR Activities
Employees are and will always be the core of the company. After work is resumed, organisations should be planning on having a strategic HR plan. Whether it is related to role assigning or to WFH, the planning should be done to improve employee satisfaction. - Plan the Finances
Economical Impact will be the most thought of feared impact after this crisis ends. SME’s and MSME’s should be making sure that the organization analyzes the financial condition. Future planning must be then done according to financial conditions of the organization. - Planning of Operations
Restarting the businesses after such a long time would surely be a bit difficult. Thus, It is necessary to make sure that all the functions are agile and productive. Making a proper and robust plan is important in moving forward. - Adapting the Digital Transformation
People have understood the importance of technology during the crisis. Your company will have to adapt to the digital transformation. Doing so they can then try creating a technology-based work culture.
When the lockdown gets lifted and we start going to the office to work, there will be different sets of challenges that we will be facing. The trends will have changed when it comes to work and workspace.
Outcomation Will Be A Key Management Tool
- What is Outcomation ?
- Example of Outcomation
- HRTech & Outcomation
- ZingHR’s Foray Into Outcomation
A Few Trends That Will Still Be Prevalent After Lockdown
- Change in Commuting
Commuting will not be the same again at least for the foreseeable future. There are several ideas that are being thrown around like employees will work in the office once or twice a week and the other being that only employees having private vehicles and living nearby will have to go to the office. - Rise In Co-Working Spaces
Most people believe that when they work around others, their productivity is boosted. There is a high chance that once lockdown opens, people might start working in co-working spaces. - Adapt Digital Transformation
Like Darwin said “Survival of the Fittest”, we should be willing to adapt to the digital transformation that has taken over the world. The rapid rise in the use and dependence on technology has shown that we will have to adapt to it. - Flexible Conditions
Your organization should be willing to be flexible and adapt to ideas like Rotation of working hours, days and offices. A certain percentage of the workforce can be called to the office at different times.
New Normal Across Industries
As the lockdown is slowly getting eased and businesses have started running, there is a new normal when it comes to work, travel and operations across various industries.
Here are a few things that have become the new normal.
- Digital Transformation & Remote Working
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadela said, “ We have seen 2 years worth of digitalization in 2 months.” From sales to customer services everything is remote now and it would not be a shocking reality if this becomes a trend in the future. - Customer Expectation & Consumer Behavior
Customer expectations and their behaviour will be changing due to the pandemic. Their expectations might increase and this is one of the reasons as to why you should be making sure that your organization will be flexible,tech-oriented and prepared. - Data Will Be of Utmost Importance.
Data is one of the most important things for any organization and it always will be. We use it for analysis, for decision making etc. Post lockdown, accessing data will be very crucial for survival as all your decision making will be depended on the data that you have. - Brick and Mortar Reset
What we can take away from this is that the world will be hitting a reset button once lockdown is lifted. Now it is up to us to make sure our companies will have plans for this whether it is short term plans or long term plans.
What New Normal will look like?
Different Perspectives
It is going to take a while for things to become normal after Covid-19. This pandemic has altered the lives of many people, businesses etc. across the world. Once everything is back to normal, everything will change whether it is the economy, businesses or lifestyle of the people.
Here is what the new normal will be for some of the entities of this world.
The Covid-19 is going to have a huge impact on the economy and the financial markets of various countries. Not only is the economy but also the personal and professional habits of people have been affected. There is an ongoing debate as to how and when things will return to normal.
Human Perspective
There is a big chance that we might still follow the social distancing rule after normality is restored. With people enjoying some extra time at home, they might get used to this habit and enjoy it.
Customer Perspective
The economy will be playing a huge role in our customer’s lives. Their saving habits will be affected due to the crisis which will have an impact on the spending habits and that will impact the business.
HR Tech Perspective
HRMS solutions are going to play a key role in the future. With companies opting to work from home, modules like geo fencing for attendance, Zero touch payroll for convenient payroll processing and announcements to keep your employees updated will be very useful
Business Perspective
The impact on the businesses will completely depend on them. If you have a plan for the business as to how it will survive after the disruption and function while the economy is recovering, you will be set for the foreseeable future.
Employee Perspective
The effect on our business will also affect the employees. Whether its pay-cuts, layoffs or furloughing, the employees will be affected. This will have an effect on their working habits as well as most of them would get used to working from home.
Digital Transformation
During the lockdown digital transformation has been accepted by most of us and do not expect it to change in the near future. With this surge, there is a possibility that we will be dependent on this for a lot of things whether it’s work or leisure.
Impact on GDP Growth and Economy Financial Crisis After COVID
We do not know how long the lockdown or bouncing back of sectors will happen. There will be certain sectors that will bounce back and certain that will go down. So if there is crust at one sector there will be trough at another.
It’s pure conjecture at this point in time. The IMF itself is not sure of it at this time. In India, another factor that will affect us is monsoon as India’s GDP is heavily dependent on agriculture. But India is one of the few economies which probably will be above zero.
We hope for the best and advise to be prepared for the second best 🙂
More power to employees, businesses and business owners.
