HR Industry Brief

The future looms beyond this crisis, and there is value in crafting your vision for tomorrow today. The strategic plans you laid out six years or even six months ago will need to be reviewed and revised. Trends, such as telecommuting, telemedicine, and more and broader digital media consumption, are here to stay and will demand your attention. Here are some tips to begin focusing on your future:

• Spend time envisioning your future. Commit 10-20% of your time each week for the next few months to exploring and imaging where you want your organization to be when this crisis passes. Weigh your thoughts for the near future with your longer-term vision.
• Sketch out a path from your long-term vision back to where you are. Reverse-engineer benchmarks and milestones for points along the way.
• Prepare to learn and pivot; be flexible. Initially, you will be focusing on assumptions. Over time, you need to gather more data and experience to prove or disprove these. … [Read more...] about (4/20) Leaders, Do You Have a Clear Vision for the Post-Crisis Future?

Whether you gather your team on video or phone, it’s not business as usual. Working remotely in the world of COVID requires a new approach. For one thing, your meetings should all start with one question: How are you? To ensure an engaged, productive team when you’re all working remotely and navigating uncharted territory, take these steps to connect and stay connected, empowered, and focused:

• Don’t count on any one platform. While Zoom, Skype, or other video conferences will be important, also give people the opportunity to communicate via email, phone, and text—whatever is most comfortable for them. Make sure their devices are secure and that they have the software and other tech tools to work effectively. It’s okay to overcommunicate at first. Set standards and expectations and seek feedback over time. Be open to new ways to interact.
• Have the team set up virtual watercoolers and happy hours. Encourage people to stay on after meetings to chat and catch … [Read more...] about (4/17) Three Keys to Engaged, Productive Telework Teams

In the age of COVID-19 and beyond, new and expanded policies are likely to be necessary on many levels. Getting everyone to understand and embrace these, particularly the more complex ones, can be challenging. Here are some tips to ensure that these policies are heard, understood, and embraced:

• State the goal and include relevant details. Go over policy particulars, including how this is new or different, what it means to individual roles, what noncompliance looks like, and the timeline involved.
• Adopt a show-and-tell approach. Use white boards or drawing tools, role-playing, and case studies to demonstrate how the policy will work in real life. Employ applicable metaphors and analogies.
• Know when you will need to persuade and not just inform. Particularly if the policy is likely to be controversial or unpopular, determine in advance how you will convince employees that it will benefit them and is in their interest.
• Use precise, … [Read more...] about (4/16) 6 Tips to Communicate Complex Policies

Despite the current COVID-19 crisis, work goes on; and new employees need onboarding. Much (or all for some employees) can be done remotely. Here are some tips to ensure remote onboarding is effective and engaging:

• Have a flexible time frame for onboarding. As soon as someone accepts the job offer, set up a buddy/mentor for the new hire and schedule training sessions, realizing that it might not be possible for everyone to complete every module in one sitting. In addition to a company overview and specifics on their department, be sure to include pandemic-related information about worker safety protocols, healthcare benefits and sick leave, etc. Make new employees feel safe from day one. Plan ongoing orientation and training; and make sure the new person has a way to ask questions and receive prompt answers.
• Create a collaboration between HR and IT to create training programs that are both informative and easy to access and complete. Pre-test everything to … [Read more...] about (4/15) Tips for Onboarding New Hires Remotely during COVID-19 Pandemic

Nothing is business as usual anymore, including coaching. But just because life and work are all about crisis, chaos, change, and challenges right now, this doesn’t mean that employee mentoring and engagement has to stop. Instead, effective managers are focusing on:

• Being more caring. They’re keeping their finger on the pulse of employees’ feelings and emotional state without telling them how they “should” feel.
• Being more candid. They’re not withholding or sugarcoating information. They are being transparent while offering support, empowerment, and hope.
• Being constructive. They keep conversations relevant, targeted, and enlightening.

• Provide continuous feedback and communication.
• Ask more than tell. Seek input from employees and listen.
• Have a process to help with decision-making.

Despite the challenges of managing COVID-19 response, only 12% of companies say they have received a COVID-19-related complaint from their employees. According to a new survey, the complaints that employers have received address issues such as remote-work-related challenges and requests to shut down offices. Nearly 7% of companies say that—to date—they have had at least one employee test positive for COVID. In response to this:

• 23% of respondents converted their workplaces to remote scenarios for all non-essential personnel.
• 17% continued operations but with modifications.
• 3% closed the entire work site.
• Many says they deep-cleaned and sanitized their facilities and required employees to quarantine and self-isolate.

• 54% of employers say they provide full pay during the worker’s time off.
• 12% say they provide unpaid leave.
• 45% say the allow the employee … [Read more...] about (4/13) COVID-19 Employer Trends Survey

As uncertainties about the future increase, employers have started looking at ways to reduce costs. According to a new survey:

• Four in 10 companies have implemented hiring freezes or plans to reduce hiring.
• 28% will or might do the same at some point in the near future.
• One in five employers have eliminated or reduced hiring of seasonal workers.
• One in 10 say they have reduced or delayed salary increases or frozen salaries.
• 22% are planning either salary reductions or freezes for the future.

Not surprisingly, senior livings leaders are using innovative ideas and flexibility to address staffing issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a McKnight’s survey, companies are compensating for extra shifts/staffing needs by:

• Using retired nurses or aides.
• Using more agency nurses or aides.
• Increasing part-timers’ hours.
• Paying overtime.
• Awarding extra paid time off
• Offering bonus pay/gift cards (or similar rewards)
• Having managers fill in.

According to new survey data from Zenefits, employees lack trust in HR, even as we face a national crisis. Among the results:

• 1 in 5 workers don’t trust HR.
• More than 30% of respondents say they avoid going to HR for all problems, and 35% say they don’t trust HR to help them.
• 38% of employees don’t feel that HR equally enforces company policies across the board.
• 23% of workers say they have witnessed or experienced poor HR, hurtful management, or discrimination.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published updated guidelines for the workplace after an employee is diagnosed with COVID-19:

• Open windows and leave contaminated areas vacant for 24 hours if you can.
• Follow strict handwashing protocols.
• Serological testing of blood samples might help show which people have already been infected and are presumably immune to the coronavirus.
• As there is no evidence that COVID-19 has been or can be transmitted through the mail, protocols beyond handwashing after handling mail is likely unnecessarily. However, where available, gloves may be worn.
• Decontaminate any high-touch surfaces such as doorknobs and handrails and sterilize pens and other items after each use by a different employee or customer.
• Don’t be concerned about catching the disease from food unless you are seated next to someone who is ill while you’re eating.