The rapid spread of COVID-19 has forced organizations to adapt to flexible working arrangements in order for their businesses to survive.
To help companies proactively and efficiently respond to the challenges brought upon by this crisis, HR Nation held a Masterclass webinar last April 28, titled “Managing Change – Shaping the New Normal“, via Zoom. This interactive webinar was facilitated by Gilbert Camasura, CEO of HRTX, and led by three esteemed speakers, Fabi Carino, Dae Lee, and Brent Denning, who shared their thoughts on the subject.
Fabi Carino, HR Thought Leader and Dentsu Aegis Network’s Country HR Director, discussed the workforce and workplace that organizations will need. She highlighted that for companies to endure, HR should revisit their existing practices that might not work best in this situation such as leave and attendance policies and paying employees 40 hrs per week. To adapt, consider imposing flexible working hours and paying employees per hour. She added that instead of hiring employees based on their degree, HR should consider hiring people based on their skills more.
Fabi also strongly emphasized the focus and prioritization of employees’ mental health and wellness. She encourages companies to provide their employees access to tools to handle stress and anxiety and information on HMO benefits relevant to COVID-19. Lastly, she called for the investment of companies on technology, and shared useful productivity apps such as scanner pro, DocuSign, Evernote, and Trello.
Download Fabi’s full presentation here: (FABI CARINO) SHAPIN THE NEW NORMAL.pdf
Dae Lee, Managing Partner at Fourthwall Branding and Consultancy, stressed that companies are not exactly in the same boat. He focused on three things that will be useful to all organizations: Planning, Deciding, and Momentum Building.
For Dae, the role of HR is to match the skills of your employees to the challenges presented to them. In Planning, he discussed how to utilize the feasibility grid in determining the tasks to prioritize based on its impact and how feasible it is to accomplish. In Deciding, having proper options leads to a more efficient decision. The future should be treated as a timeframe, and companies should always be equally prepared on how to respond when decisions are right and when they’re wrong. In Momentum Building, the goal should not be to change people but to change their environment. He also emphasized the importance of finite goals and infinite goals.
Download Dae’s full presentation here: (DAE LEE) SHAPING THE NEW NORMAL.pdf
Brent Denning, Salarium’s Chief Operating Officer, discussed how technology can be best utilized to adapt to the New Normal. With so many technology platforms available, he presented a framework on how to select the ones which will be beneficial to your business.
Brent also shared how Salarium, a complete cloud-based payroll software, helped businesses become flexible with all its modules available online: transparent timekeeping, effortless payroll, and secured payout. When it comes to ensuring that people upscale themselves on investing in technology, he said that “It’s all about being clear: understanding what the end-state is and the process required to get you to that end-state.”
Download Brent’s full presentation here: (BRENT DENNING) SHAPING THE NEW NORMAL.pdf
When asked, “Should companies be transparent on their current state during the crisis?”, during the question and answer portion, Dae reiterated that quality of communication is an integral part of adaptation. “If you don’t give your employees any information, they will try to find it in other sources, which is how fake news thrives. People understand most of the time, and the best thing is to “be objective and not subjective about it”.
For Fabi, it’s all about what to make of the truth. “As an HR leader, we need to be the one instigating positivity to your team, and not the first one to complain about it. We need to have a communication strategy to align with what to say to avoid shaking up our employees.
Brent added that “This call for transparency is an opportunity for the leaders to improve and drive employee engagement for an organization.”
