Tips on Creating a Workforce Built for the Future

Businesses everywhere are putting actions in place to ensure their survival and are quickly learning lessons on how to build a post-COVID-19 workforce. Over the course of the pandemic, a few key themes have emerged as pivotal:

• How can HR leaders create new and sustainable employee engagement practices that will reinvigorate productivity?
• How can employees celebrate contributions – and cultivate trust – while building authentic connections among their peers and managers? 
• What should businesses invest in to get ahead, while keeping the reality of budget constraints at bay? 
• How can companies become more streamlined and efficient without disrupting or damaging their employees’ experiences?
  

Leaders must think creatively to maximise engagement, recovery and, eventually, look towards growth and their business’s future.

You can do this by connecting, supporting and recognising your people to drive business continuity and growth. 

When building a post-COVID-19 workforce, consider that businesses that have prioritised aspects of engaging their employees such as communications, recognition and wellbeing are the ones whose people are trusting them more than ever and are well-positioned to continue on to growth and success.

When employees are kept in the dark, they fill that void with fear and uncertainty.

Businesses that create platforms for open and honest communications that reach people wherever they might be working, with the right message, at the right time, will breed trust and confidence in the direction of the business.

Deepen conversations and build strong connections among a dispersed workforce by encouraging employees to participate in two-way conversations on an internal communications platform that enables online social interactions with reactions, commenting and tagging.

You can enhance that experience by integrating systems of communication alongside strategic recognition and holistic wellbeing initiatives that further connect, support and recognise your people.

Employees that don’t feel appreciated aren’t going to 'show up' for you. Consider how it feels when someone tells you you’ve done a job well done – it inspires you to work harder, doesn’t it? A strategic reward and recognition programme can show employees that you appreciate them when it matters most, now and in the future.

By creating a culture of appreciation in your business, you can maintain (and improve!) employee morale and continue celebrating the wins, however small or large they might be. 

Alongside recognition, employee wellbeing has come into the spotlight. Employers that care about their people are the ones who will retain their top performers and build a workforce that will last well into the future.

Businesses can support their employees by providing them the tools they need to feel safe, healthy and cared for at work, whether that’s in an office environment, a new remote home office or in the field. Bringing all your wellbeing initiatives into one place with a dedicated employee wellbeing programme that acts as a one-stop-shop for employee wellbeing can give employees the support they need, while improving your company’s overall Employee Value Proposition. 

Keeping on budget during uncertain times

HR budgets have always been tight, but in a challenging economy, it can be even harder to get that elusive checkmark of approval from your Leadership team. That’s why it’s critical for HR to find ways to do more, with less.

Capitalising on an all-in-one solution that brings together the best of recognition, communication, wellbeing, surveys and more, with valuable insights to help prove the ROI of programmes and initiatives can bring engagement programmes to new heights, without the hefty price tag to match. 

Would you rather be ready for the Future of Work, or be the ones catching up? The choice is yours.