What’s on the HR agenda for Q4 2021?

It’s hard to believe that we’re on the threshold of the final sprint to the end of the year. In three weeks or so, children will be off to university or back to school and we’ll be heading into the autumn.

So, a month after the UK relaxed its social distancing measures and we all began to get on with the business of getting on with business, what should be on the agendas of HR teams between now and the end of the year?

Inevitably, the pandemic will continue to dominate matters. We may be living more freely now, but the aftershock of successive lockdowns – whether full or tiered – will continue to send tremors through the UK’s workplaces for months to come.

Agenda item #1 – Return to work

Or perhaps this item is more about not returning to work. Recent research suggests that around 70% of businesses believe the pandemic had a positive effect on shaping employee strategies in terms of flexible and/or remote working.

As I’ve said in previous articles, a surprising number of companies that might previously have been dubious about allowing employees to work from home on a full time basis have seen their fears proved groundless during the pandemic and have, as a result, either divested themselves of their office space completely or have radically downsized to take space in hot-desking environments like WeWork.

Managing how people work will be a priority for HR teams as business establishes a new normal for itself.

It’s likely that this will take the form of a mixed economy of working practice that includes some full time remote working, some part time remote working, some people returning to the workplace full time, and others reducing their hours to achieve a better work/life balance.

Key action: HR teams will need to find SMART processes that allow employees to be benchmarked in a fair and equitable way. How will productivity and performance be measured in a way that is constructive and doesn’t create a sense of ‘Big Brother’ constantly checking up on staff?

Agenda item #2 – Wellbeing

Returning to the workplace will be a unique experience for everyone.

Some people have found the inherent isolation of lockdown and remote working to be mentally and emotionally challenging and they may well thrive in the collaborative environment of face-to-face working.

But others will find the daily commute and enforced separation from family much harder to adapt to. These colleagues may well need much more inclusive and empathetic management to ensure their transition back into the workplace is supported properly.

Key action: How will you find or develop the tools and processes that will help to identify and then manage wellbeing issues resulting from a return to the workplace? How will you engineer and structure those processes to ensure a happy, supportive and productive return to normality?

Agenda item #3 – Managing the future

Let’s be honest – there are many businesses that will now be looking at how to reduce costs in order to withstand and then recover from those economic aftershocks.

There are plenty of companies that have seen their order books decimated and will rightly look at their staffing structures and conclude they simply don’t have the volume of work that justifies maintaining those levels.

That will result in a great many businesses initiating restructuring processes that are designed to make roles redundant – a process that is likely to produce its own aftershock of uncertainty and fear within the staff community.

Key action: Does your business have a fit for purpose redundancy strategy? What processes will you use to identify redundant roles? What will be your communication strategy – not just with regard to those directly affected, but also for the wider teams who will be understandably unsettled by it? How will you ensure your processes are fair and equitable?

Agenda item #4 – Absenteeism

There are two issues at play here.

The first is the wellbeing impact of the pandemic. Long Covid – where the symptoms and effects of a Covid infection recur over time – is very much an issue for many people, and this will need to be factored into how businesses manage absenteeism.

It’s also likely that just as sickness absence decreased during the pandemic as people enjoyed a more relaxed approach to working, those absences will increase as people return to the workplace.

Additionally, certain levels of absenteeism may trigger internal processes, but the thresholds for these may unfairly ‘target’ colleagues who are away on sick leave due to conditions like Long Covid that are almost impossible to predict.

Equally, absentee policies need to be robust enough to be able to deter abuse of the system, whilst also being flexible enough to support people on an individual basis.

Key action: Are your absenteeism policies flexible enough to meet the needs of all your staff? How will you manage abuse of systems? Where will thresholds be utilised to identify chronic issues without unfairly targeting people struggling with genuine recurring illnesses?

Agenda item #5 – Employee communication

Although it appears last on the list, it’s arguably as or more important than any other item on the autumn HR agenda.

Ensuring your employees are heard and also that they hear as much information as possible from the business is a key tool in ensuring teams stay engaged, feel valued and remain confident their needs and concerns are being addressed.

Nothing destroys a workplace more effectively than radio silence from the boardroom or leadership team, so it will pay to ensure you have the right comms strategies in place to reach all parts of the business with equal efficiency and effectiveness.

Key action: Have you audited your internal communications platforms and strategies to ensure they’re fit for purpose? What tools exist to allow employees to make their voices heard at an executive level? How will you promote the various ways people can engage with the business? Most importantly, how will you encourage your executive leadership to be proactive in communicating with staff?

These are all vital parts of a business’ strategy to get back to normal working, and those organisations that get these elements right will be better placed to achieve success in 2022 and beyond.

If you’d like to know more about how Constantia Consulting can help you to prepare for success in the coming year, please contact us for an informal chat.