Introduction
2020
has been nothing but a challenge for all HR professionals, where they had to
tackle the biggest remote working workforce to a variety of other issues such
as redundancies in workforce, furlough, safety and employee engagement amid a
global pandemic (Seychell, 2020). It has also been a year where automation and digitization
of business operations has accelerated like no other year with organizations adopting
digital tools to carry out the operations (World Economic Forum, 2020).
Challenges and Solutions
The report released by
World Economic Forum on ‘The Future of Jobs Report’, the following key points are stated (World Economic Forum, 2020).
1. The pace of technology adoption remains unbated and will accelerate in some areas
2. By 2025, companies will transform tasks, jobs and skills with automation and by 2025 the time spent on current tasks by humans and machines will be equal
3. Skill gaps for jobs in demand will continue to rise
4. With online work implemented for majority of white-collar workforce, concerns on productivity, sense of community, connection and belonging among employees will lessen
5. Online learning and training are on the rise
6. The time window for upskilling and reskilling the current worker is shorter
All points above has a direct link to employees, where they would feel the burden and uncertainty for their work and in turn result in a negative mindset. As such organization must take measures to create harmony among employees with automation activities and engage the workforce that will benefit the organization in the long run (Tyfting, 2020). In order to create a culture of engagement, organization can implement points below.
1. Develop a road map for the change – Change is inevitable, and automation is here to stay. Therefore, company’s must develop a road map with changes implemented, what new skills would be required and how the exiting skills could be redirected to other roles within the organization (Tyfting, 2020).
2. Rewards to be re-written – The existing benefit packages would not suit in the future with more tech and socially conscious employees with changes in working culture (Seychell, 2020).
3. Focus on skill development as a basis for engagement - This is key if organizations want to keep the employees engaged. With changing demands on skill, HR professionals must look at ways to upskill employees (Ramakrishnan, 2020).
4. Implement a ‘Thematic exploration’ – Instead of looking at engagement from a global picture, look at it from tiny pieces that fit into create the big picture. understand drivers like diversity and inclusion, work-life balance, leadership development, and anger management from each employees perspective to create the engagement culture (Ramakrishnan, 2020).
5. Use technological advantages and implement tools to monitor engagement continuously – Instead of using the traditional surveys to monitor engagement levels annually, implement digital tools that could measure the engagement levels of the employee and improve productivity, retention, and satisfaction (Burnett & Lisk, 2019).
Conclusion
Companies
need to inspire and engage their workforce now more than ever before. As
explained in video 4.0, employees do want to be engaged and find meaning in the
work they do. Employees want organizations to consider them as human beings and
be genuine in what they do. Engagement is not something extra, but its what
organizations do and how hey do that makes the difference.
Video
4.0 - Engage for Success - Get Engaged!
(Source:
Engage4Success, 2012)
Reference
Burnett, JR & Lisk,
TC 2019, The Future of Employee Engagement: Real-Time Monitoring and Digital
Tools for Engaging a Workforce, International Studies of Management &
Organization, Vol. 49, Issue 01, pp. 108-19
Engage for Success – Get
Engaged, 2012, Engage4Success, Online video, viewed 3rd December
2020, < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqO3sfRZDAE&feature=youtu.be>
How Businesses can emerge
Stronger – CEO Panel Survey, 2020, PWC Global, viewed 18th October
2020, < https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/ceo-agenda/ceo-panel-survey.html>
Ramakrishnan, S 2020, The
New Normal in Employee Engagement – Power Up your People, Numly, viewed 3rd
December 2020, <https://www.numly.io/blog/the-new-normal-in-employee-engagement-power-up-your-people/>
Resetting the Future of
Work Agenda: Disruption and Renewal in a Post-COVID World, 2020, World Economic
Forum, viewed 3rd December 2020, < https://www.weforum.org/whitepapers/resetting-the-future-of-work-agenda-disruption-and-renewal-in-a-post-covid-world>
Seychell, R 2020, What challenges will 2021
bring for HR teams?,> CIPD, viewed 3rd December 2020, <https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/voices/comment/what-challenges-2021-bring-hr-teams>
The future of Jobs Report
, 2020, World Economic Forum, viewed 3rd December 2020, < https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2020>
Tyfting, M 2020, The
Future Of Work: Finding Harmony Between Automation And Employee Engagement, Forbes,
viewed 3rd December 2020, < https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2020/11/11/the-future-of-work-finding-harmony-between-automation-and-employee-engagement/?sh=5c2c98b0732a>
Employee involvement is the extent of an employee's attachment or participation to the company that helps to accomplish the objective (Barclays, 2008).
ReplyDeleteThis is the commitment an employee has for the organization he works for. Commitment is one key factor for engagement as per the engagement model from ‘Institute of Employment Studies' (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). From a committed and engaged employee, the company will reap the benefit of higher productivity and low turnover (Vance, 2006).
DeleteMany organizations outsourcing employee as a solution without finding the problem (McCauley, 2000).It is a common strategy use by many companies in Sri Lanka and it will also affect the employee engagement in the future.
ReplyDeleteTo reduce cost, maintain quality and to enhance the organizations competitive position in the market, more companies outsource functions that are supplementary to their core business (Elmuti,Grunewalg & Abebe, 2010). Mostly these core functions are outsourced to BPO companies. BPO itself is an organization with objectives and beliefs. Therefore, as stated by Robson, Perryman & Hayday (2004), the following can be implemented within BPO’s to improve engagement (The Insights Group Ltd, 2014).
Delete1.Good quality line management
2.Two-way communication
3.A development focus
4.Commitment to employee well-being
5.Clear and accessible HR policies and practices, to which all level of management are committed
Sonali, given the importance of employee engagement to organizations, combined with the deepening disengagement among workers today, a key issue is how to promote the engagement of employees(Gilson & Harter, 2004).
ReplyDeleteDisengagement is definitely a force to reckon with as the latest engagement study conducted by Gallup stated, only 15% of employees are engaged worldwide (Gallup, 2017). First step any organization can do in this regard is to identify the staff moral and what factors are disengaging them. without knowing this knowledge if organizations try to engage the staff, it would be a futile effort (Yoon, 2020).
ReplyDeleteAgreed, 2020 is a challenging year for professionals as well as organizations. Adding to your discussion that engagement is a positive attitude held by an worker in direction of the Group and its beliefs. M. and Agarwal (2017) says that absolutely engaged worker is conscious of the character of business, and works with peer group to enhance their efficiency on the office for the accomplishment of the Organizational goals.
ReplyDeleteTrue to what you have stated , research analysis indicates that if your team is highly engaged the productivity will improve by 18% in sales, 14% in production records, evaluations and 23% in profitability (Gallup Meta Analysis, 2020).
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe concept of employee engagement plays a central role in the global landscape of business as organizations attempt to optimize the intellectual power inherent in today’s diverse workforce. Employee engagement represents a sustainable resource capable of promoting organizational success and competitive advantage. Organizations actively pursue higher levels of employee engagement to increase productivity, imbue positive energy within the corporate culture, and enhance organizational reputation within the industry or the broader business community(Albrech, 2011).
ReplyDeleteYes, even though it wasn't a priority for many organizations in the past, it is now one of the critical priorities. The reason it's a focal point is because it leads to business results which is proven over time (The insights Group, 2014).
DeleteAccording to Roland Burton (2014), “Employees' behavior will be increasingly traceable and measurable as more information about their activity is electronically captured. Organizations will be better at studying these patterns of behavior - in the same way that consumer behavior is studied - so rather than asking people questions which are subject to their mood and interpretation, organizations will be using objective metrics.”
ReplyDeleteAs rightly said, if organizations can correctly gauge the employee behavior, it would be possible to drive engagement to better levels. And technology will enable organizations to finally reach this goal (Burnett & Lisk, 2019).
DeleteIn order to maintain a good employee engagement in 2021, organizations will plan more flexible policies to empower employees to balance their workload. Also, Organizations must support the physical health, mental health, financial well-being, social well-being, and professional well-being of their employees(Wowk,A.2020).
ReplyDeleteThis is correct Thanuja. If organizations want to ensure engagement of their employees in 2021 with the current pandemic situation organizations, will require to do all you have stated. In addition organizations will also need to upgrade the skill levels of the existing workforce with the rapid changes in the technology adopted with the pandemic to keep the momentum of the employees (Ramakrishnan, 2020).
DeleteThe use of modern technologies in the recruitment and selection processes...will permanently appear in the area of human resources.The significant potential in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning has been proven many times, but there is still a long way to go for the HR industry to fully use them or just to convince them to be used in an appropriate way (Morgan J. 2014, p. 6–10).
ReplyDeleteHi Mihiran, Though I do not see a relation of what you have commented to my post, let me respond. Society as a whole is now facing the challenge of adopting new technologies into their daily routine and specially organizations during this pandemic time. In fact based on a survey conducted by PWC (2020), for CEO's around the globe, out of two key themes emerged, one was where CEOs plan to make their organization more digital and virtual ( PWC CEO Panel Survey, 2020). Therefore it could be safely stated that, modern technologies would be more more closer than we think they are.
DeleteGreat Post! Employee engagement activities help address this problem by bringing office colleagues together in the virtual space. Check out our list of top 50 Online employee engagement activities that your work from home employees will enjoy!
ReplyDeleteWonderful blog! Virtual employee engagement activities are the ways to enhance the relationship between a company and its work-from-home team employees. The objective of these activities and ideas is to boost employees morale and their participation in the company growth.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete