The challenges for HR teams in 2021

The first few weeks of the new year have proved that HR managers and their teams have a challenging year ahead of them in 2021.

Any secret hopes we might have been harbouring that some sense of normality might be restored as a result of the Government’s last-minute decision to ‘cancel’ Christmas were misguided.

But what does a new national lockdown and warnings that restrictions may be in place until the spring or early summer mean for businesses and their employees?

I think there are a number of different challenges ahead for workplace and employment practice, but I believe the way HR teams respond in three key areas will largely dictate what success looks like for UK business in 2021.

Here, then, are the areas where I think we need to be focussing our efforts over the next 12 months:

1. Adapting to a more agile and fragile hiring environment

To say the recruitment market has been a rollercoaster over the past year is something of an understatement.

Twelve months ago, businesses were planning their hiring strategies based on assumptions that proved to be wildly wrong.

Outside those sectors that have always had a much more needs-based and fluid approach to employment – generally the hospitality and entertainment sectors (tellingly, those also worst-hit by the pandemic) – businesses were forward-planning with traditional hiring models.

Come April of last year, many businesses, wrong-footed by lockdown, were scrambling into damage-limitation mode, using the Government’s aid packages such as the Job Retention Scheme to mitigate an expected impact on revenue streams.

By the mid-point of the year, many business leaders were preparing for redundancies, whilst others were swapping out the traditional permanent hire model for a more adaptive short-term approach based on part-time or contract hires.

This year, I think the emphasis will shift again. Although the impact on business is arguably less Draconian for some businesses in this lockdown (many business types that were forced to close last March have been allowed to remain open this time), some companies are still unable to trade properly.

Those that can still operate on some level and are looking for new hires are facing having to appoint people who will begin their company career working from home, and so HR teams will need to modify their onboarding processes to reflect that.

Savvy firms are using technology such as augmented reality and gamification to help in the selection process of people who, by virtue of how they will have to work, must be disciplined self-starters.

But this is not the only way in which the game has changed for recruiters. The absence of face-to-face interaction will also mean that businesses need to completely rethink their onboarding and personal development processes.

How will we train a new generation of remote workers when, in most cases, HR professionals themselves have only a few months’ personal experience and knowledge of a workforce that is located almost entirely away from the office?

2. Upping the game when it comes to employee welfare

Last March working from home was something of a novelty. It’s hardly surprising, when you talk to people, that in spite of health concerns surrounding the pandemic, many employees found it invigorating to be able to ditch the commute and spend more quality time at home.

Yes, identifying and equipping an appropriate workspace within the home was a challenge for many people, but on the whole it’s fair to say that broadly speaking the majority of employees embraced the chance to work in a different way.