The pandemic has revamped our lives to such an extent that even after the relaxations, the professional sphere is struggling to get back, and perhaps, it will never go back to the old norms. Everything from work-from-home to digitalization has undergone a sudden change in the work ethics and practices that were once tied to the physical office space. The impact has, in fact, been on all the aspects of the professional sphere, giving rise to a ‘new’ normal in the workspace as well.
HR professionals are no exception to this changeover and would require a major share of revamping their operations in the post-pandemic era. The traditional HR practices that revolved around the office have now become redundant, and the more abstract aspects of HR seem to have gained importance. HR managers today are looking into adopting a flexible, partly office-based work culture to boost the output. Indeed, the ‘new normal’ of working remotely, learning and collaborating online, and building resilience and inclusiveness in the virtual workplace has pushed HR managers to figure out ways to keep their operations smooth and adopt new trends that would help surpass these challenging times successfully. And today, we, at the Indore Institute of Management & Research, one among the Top MBA Colleges in Indore, will provide to you with an insight into the top trends that are most likely to guide and steer the HR managers through the new normal.
Adoption of employee-centric policies
With the blurring lines between home time and work time, most professionals have been seen to go through multiple stress factors. And this is where the responsibilities of HR have also forged into yet another direction. HR managers are now also concerned about the mental health of the employees along with their productivity level. Gone are the days when HR managers used to try and diversify the work culture by organizing dress-up days and office potlucks. Now HR managers may have to come up with creative ideas to meet with employees online so that they are not burnt out due to the increased screen-time, spatially separated workplaces, and unmanageable home-office workloads. This means HR managers must act upon increasing the layers of communication to keep employee relationships flourishing as before.
Rethinking of the methods for performance analysis
While the usual time-tested methods of a company’s performance analysis might not be suited for the new normal, HR managers will have to rethink of newer trends and strategies. People analysis and AI-powered performance management have provided new means of unbiased data that would help professionals understand, assess, and analyze the progress of the employees. A good investment in real-time analytics, organizational realignments, along with integrated physical spaces and IT landscape, would be a perfect preparation to serve the new normal more efficiently.
Preparing for the hybrid office
Though the COVID-19 will not kill the tangible nature of the workplace, the notion of the office and its footprints have changed forever. What is emerging is the hybrid office culture, where the corporate headquarter is combined to work in line with home and satellite offices together to achieve an expanded yet productive remote working. Indeed, the exact balance of corporate workspace and team hub rooms will certainly increase the employee’s work experience. Whether it is for online collaboration, focused work, team brainstorming, or in-person employee briefings, hybrid office space caters to everything based on need and preference. The hybrid workplaces will be more like re-imagined office spaces with flexible work solutions to tackle all the unforeseen challenges of the post-pandemic business world.
While the post-pandemic business world is likely to continue posing varied challenges to employees and HR professionals alike, adopting new trends in the domain would certainly help HR managers to steer the organizational wheel effectively. And this makes it even more important for the new batch of HR professionals who are yet to join the industry to stay aware of the ground-level scenario and the coping strategies for the new normal. To that end, we, at IIMR, offer a high-quality academic system that aims at developing industry-ready management professionals who are practically oriented and conceptually sound to propel the global market. Our multifaceted approach of industry interface, skills development, and innovative research orients the students’ perspective of the contemporary and future business trends and developments globally. Being one of the top MBA colleges in Indore, we, at IIMR, are driven to bring out not just management professionals but smart managers and visionary leaders who are taught and trained to manage the post-pandemic business era with efficiency.