COVID Pandemic, Virtual Work and Agile HR Roles

It is known that Human Resource (HR) is the heart of the organization. HR has evolved through different eras from being hiring officers to being indispensable business partners. They act as catalysts for change and productivity by ensuring that the workforce continuously perform their roles with efficiency and excellence. For the past months, the world has been disrupted by the COVID-19, altering not just our lifestyle including the manner by which we work.

Remote and Virtual Work as the New Norm

Remote work is defined as working outside the office or regular workstations of employees. It is work done at the comfort of one’s home, in a moving vehicle or in a cafe especially for individuals whose work requires frequent travels, inter-branch visits and the like. These concepts have been inevitably welcomed by both business owners and employees all throughout the globe. Some companies have HR Pandemic plans. Yet, they could have coped easier if this concept has been adapted and beta tested before the full-blown implementation. However, this seems impossible on the onset of the pandemic.

Virtual Work Set Up and HR Agility

Most companies have to resort to work from home schemes, automation and the unfortunate temporary work cessation or retrenchment of employees. Either way, this poses challenges not only to workers but especially to HR practitioners. Employees' main concern focuses on their own physical safety. More so for HRs and executives who have to juggle their own safety, other employees’ safety and to keep business running. Systems and standard work protocols have to be immediately established for remote workers, virtual teams and online collaboration tools for communicating should be set up. Orientation, training, continuous mentoring should also be carried out to help workers familiarize themselves with the new norm with minimal disruption to their roles. In addition, day-to-day HR services should still be constantly available. For those who are affected by work cessation numerous paperwork vis-a-vis legal compliance plus a number of interventions are also necessary. The most difficult challenge is to divulge such heartbreaking news and accept the initial, hopefully not violent reactions from those affected. These are the predicaments HRs have to face, but as they say, no matter how hard it is, it should be done.

The resilience and agility of executives and HRs have been tested this season but the good news is, they don’t have to do things by themselves. Virtual Tools and certain platforms have functions allowing automation, online storage, shared services and the like that are user-friendly, free and available. Virtual Assistance and Virtual HR Services are now widely offered. Should you be an executive of HR who needs additional manpower - a number of online marketplaces such as Upwork and Onlinejobsph makes it possible to hire experts of certain fields at an affordable cost. If you’re not sure if they can deliver the results you wanted? Hire the trained ones by contacting Filipino Virtual Assistance Business Consultancy.