Challenges faced during Pandemic.

The sudden COVID-19 existence has taken the employee’s mental health in the front seat. When employees were occupied in an office work atmosphere, it was very easy to recognize their pulse and sensitivity, and that assisted the organization extremely, to deal with the matters.

 

 

Who on earth has ever assumed of the challenges that COVID-19 has emerged on? The terrifying feeling of not knowing what the future holds and what actions to take to sustain organizational acts is a big task. 

The ambiguity has crushed the economy, employees are in a tense situation, and HR professionals are trying their best to keep all in viewpoint and united. We all are shaken by ambiguity. Employees are affected psychologically, not knowing what the future retains for them, and HR professionals are trying to put all in alignment. 

The sudden move in work culture developed a toll on overall employee health and welfare. Stress, nervousness, and other mental health issues have constantly been there. Organizations have continuously been inducting wellness programs and providing employees with health assistance, and flexibility to support them overcome their health issues. The sudden COVID-19 existence has taken the employee’s mental health in the front seat. When employees were occupied in an office work atmosphere, it was very easy to recognize their pulse and sensitivity, and that assisted the organization extremely, to deal with the matters. 

COVID-19 initiated disrupting the human routine, way of life, businesses, and the global economy. One aspect of HR functions that stood out across the globe to hold all the ends together and bridge the gaps quickly to ensure continuity of the business. This crisis put the HR function on the radar of importance, visibility, and effect. HR functions have become the most sought-after for their ability to control the damage, come up with contingency plans to control the endless complexity of people management; all this while keeping the spirit of the organization and employee’s togetherness intact. 

All organizations, big or small, relied heavily on their HR and IT teams to ensure the wellbeing of their people while they deliver on business-critical projects from home. HR managers are trying to build harmonious routes and strategies to overcome the challenges. HR Strategies are designed in real-time. The focus on employee engagement and productivity has shifted to immediate responses. To provide employees with the right remote working tools and also gather real-time updates from employees’ time to time unravel the difficulties and offer the required support. 

Communication is another major challenge that is on the urgency list. Communication is a critical aspect that needs to be considered whether or not the workforce is working remotely. Without the right communication channels, it becomes difficult to manage a workforce. The COVID-19 crisis had the HR professionals on their toes and kept them looking for the right remote working tools that suit the organizational culture. With information from governments, health authorities, and labor organizations frequently changing, organizations need to communicate with their employees quickly as they react to changes even smarter. 

CEOs and managers should facilitate and enable sincere and honest communication from and to employees to assure them that the business is reviewing government guidelines and how they plan to comply with them. They should also update employees regularly on how the business is performing and reassure employees that they are considering all government support to protect employees. Rapid communication is key at this time and they should ensure that the organization can communicate to all employees when an important policy change is needed due to new government guidelines. They should try to be flexible and empower managers to make decisions about their teams as it is too difficult to have a policy for absolutely everything that has changed over the past few weeks. 

Even a quick hello will let your team know you’re thinking of them, which helps them feel valued. Managers can also ask about their workload. Since it is harder to tell if remote workers are experiencing burnout, this practice can help to keep an eye on the employee’s mental health. After All, space should be provided for employees to chat as a virtual coffee break. Talking things with each other will help during this stressful time. The ultimate organizational goal is the productivity of the employees. It is very challenging to keep the employees engaged when they are working remotely during a crisis. Internal communication is very important and challenging, keeping everyone on the same page becomes tough. With remote working, it is difficult to follow a routine and even accept a systematic workflow. When the teams are cross-functional, there is little challenge to manage them. Not communicating with them regularly can impact their morale to a great extent.

The Covid-19 had been affected by nearly every organization policy and needs to be updated as per Covid-19 clauses. As such HR functions are responsible for the organization's policies, they have a lot of work to do in a very short time. We have seen and heard of many acts of kindness during the Covid-19 pandemic. An organization must listen to their HR Departments during this pandemic time as they have the best experience of making the right decision for sheltering employees.