Covid-19 has wrought a trail of personal and professional devastation. Although the figure is falling, there are still far too many people losing their lives each day in our country alone. Businesses have been decimated, some never to recover. There may be the odd, and far from consistent, glimmer of improvement but the disease will scar the country for years.
My previous piece touched on the impact to and evolution of an organisation’s employer brand and employee experience in a post Covid world. What if we look at this from the other side? The disease has thrown up different challenges and perspectives to people – many of them either furloughed or working from home. They are likely to return to the workforce, if not necessarily the workplace, with a different and enhanced skillset and mindset. Employment is likely to change as a result of Covid-19, but are employees likely to evolve too?
Armed now with a different and enhanced skillset. Wanting more from their employer, capable of and hungry to contribute more.
And are workplaces ready for such change?
Again, I’ve asked for the views of a number of key industry practitioners and I couldn’t be more appreciative of the contributions of John Burnet from Thoughtworks, Julie Griggs from Greenhill HR and Talent, Tom Portingale from Nationwide Building Society and Julian Ward from Stickyeyes.
(Clearly, the following outcomes should be seen as best-case scenarios – there will be employer-employee relationships which do not produce such results).
The corporate safety net
I’m acutely aware that one of the most tangible wake-ups calls those of us who leave corporate life encounter is the very sudden absence of corporate safety nets. Specifically, those life savers who work on the IT help desk, legal, finance, etc. This is what an awful lot of people who found themselves working from home some eight weeks ago will recognise. All of a sudden, they are using their own initiative or Googling an answer or using their network. The colleagues at the end of an internal extension are either on furlough or much harder to track down. The result? Many people have been inspired, perhaps actively encouraged by their employers, to seek their own solutions, to make their own calls, to think for themselves. Employers are likely to see significantly more inspired and empowered employees as and when they return to work.
John Burnet, Head of Recruitment at Thoughtworks, endorses the point, as well as extending it:
“Whilst, yes – the pandemic may have encouraged people to be more proactive and creative, taking ownership to arrive at solutions, I feel there will also be a renewed appreciation, empathy and respect for people in support roles and functions. Taken for granted when things are rosy, sorely missed when not around”
New skillsets
We might too extend this point. A number of organisations – there’s a long list of US universities and LinkedIn itself – are offering free classes and courses. Employers themselves may also be facilitating accessibility to such courses for their employees. People in lockdown have had the opportunity to up-skill, to sharpen their own skillsets and to add others – and not simply bread making and decorating. Such skills might be professional and corporate. They might too be more personal skills necessary to survive some of the pressures and challenges of lockdown within a relationship or family setting.
More trust and space
For some very obvious physical reasons, people have been freed of micro management and have seen more trust and freedom than they have perhaps ever known. Such trust has related both to management style and actual relaxing, for example, of IT permissions. This will clearly suit some people more than others, but for those eager to demonstrate their new-found initiative, their return to the workplace will be interesting. Employers need to appreciate that different management parameters have shaped their people over the last two months and many will not appreciate a return to anything approaching command and control. Employees who have thrived with such trust and space are likely to return more productive, less cautious individuals.
“We’re all on some form of digital journey, however, I think people will expect, at the same time, a shift to being more human and acknowledging the value of trust, relationships and collegiality that’s so important in successful organisations”. Julie Griggs, Consultant, Greenhill HR and Talent.
Employee advocates
There has been nowhere to hide for employers behaving without empathy and respect – and there are plenty. Equally, though, many organisations have risen to the challenge and excelled. Even when making substantial headcount cuts, the likes of Uber and Airbnb have done so with thought, generosity and consideration. In behaving in such a way, those organisations create bankable employee advocacy. People will look around at how their friends and partners are being treated and compare their own place of work favourably. As a result, such employers are likely to see substantial engagement, retention and productivity enhancements.
“Employee advocacy will have a renewed sense of importance and hold a lot of weight at a time when people will be more cautious than ever about making a job switch. The ‘Voice of the Employee’ will work two ways, cementing existing employees’ confidence and collective passions as to why they are staying (retention) and securing new talent (attraction) currently likely to be teetering on the fence between stay or go, with values and stories that resonate”. John Burnet.
“Those companies who aren’t just acting but also communicating honestly, whose values and culture pre-crisis haven’t deviated but are being accentuated during this period, will be the brands which candidates gravitate towards.” Tom Portingale, Senior Employer Brand Manager, Nationwide Building Society.
Speed and momentum
All around us, I am aware of organisations breaking corporate speed limits to get things done. The Nightingale hospitals are an obvious example. The progress, to date, on vaccines is another. I’m conscious of two year digital transformation journeys happening in two months. Recruitment processes have been significantly shortened for key worker roles. The Government’s job protection website appeared at pace and with very little apparent fuss. Because they have had to, because there has been no choice, things are happening appreciably more quickly. Employers have the opportunity of making use of such momentum, pace and impatience when workforces return.
“Whilst quick decisions, processes and tools have been developed during the crisis – critical business decisions around hiring, budgets and future cuts will not be made at such pace. Each line item will be checked and re-checked a thousand times, each scenario played out to a thread, as businesses and functions carefully consider how a ‘today decision’ affects, not just tomorrow, but years to come”. John Burnet.
Collaboration
One of the more interesting implications of Covid has been employees moving from organisation to organisation. A whole range of individuals with no obvious relevant background are working as key workers, some in healthcare, others in food delivery. Organisations, such as Dyson and Ford, have been developing ventilators. Necessity has definitively been the mother of invention. It will be fascinating to see the extent to which such openness continues. Will employers be happy, particularly in the short term, to have their people working with, for example, the NHS? And what new ideas, approaches and perspectives will such employees ultimately bring back to the workplace?
Employee voice
Again, this is likely to be a binary phenomenon. There will be those organisations who have largely ignored their people while on furlough. However, I’ve also come across many organisations who have worked hard to stay in touch with their employees, to create virtual communities and to actively listen to them and their concerns. People will have become increasingly used to responding to surveys and listening exercises. To having a voice. When anything approaching normality resumes, they will not want to lose this capacity. Expressing what went right and what might have been done differently gives employees the opportunity to shape a better working environment.
“What has the organisation learned during this situation – what has it learned about its employees and how will it apply that going forward? Old, very static and policy driven ways of doing things needs to make way for a different relationship as we all flex and shift as we are still learning how to adapt”, Julie Griggs.
Openness and transparency
The lockdown has accelerated people’s enthusiasm to be open about how they are feeling. They now, via Google Meet and Zoom, allow their manager and colleagues into their homes. Many will not necessarily have company or family around them and will be only too willing to open up. For others, the unique pressures of lockdown will have created a need to be transparent about any mental health concerns they might have. Such employees will return to the workplace, or certainly work, with more confidence in and expectations of their ability to speak their mind and to open up. And to be listened to.
More perspective on purpose
There may be a hint of naivety around this point, but people’s responses to the work and contribution of key workers – anyone from healthcare professionals, to delivery drivers and bin men – have been widely recognised and applauded. The actions of senior government advisers have made such an impact through their inherent unfairness. It will be interesting to see if employees want to see both more meaning and purpose in their own work and the achievements of their employer.
Senior leadership visibility
There are few areas which have attracted such contrasting responses. Leadership within some organisations has been high profile, communicating regularly and with empathy to their employee base. In other organisations, not so much. Interestingly, in the former camp, employees are suggesting that they have seen more of leaders over the last two months than ever before. As some form of return starts to take hold, employees will not want such leadership presence to dissipate.
“I think employees will want to see a continuation of compassionate and vulnerable leadership, acknowledging that we’ve all been through a strange and alien experience and we can’t suddenly press restart and be in BAU”. Julie Griggs.
Less siloing
Particularly in larger organisations, the issue of silos can be a significant factor. Employers can accidentally – often in the process of corporate maturing – ring fence departments, so removing the opportunity for collaboration and cross-fertilisation of ideas. And excluding other departments, other people, other viewpoints. The widespread use of cross-company calls and Zooms has made it easier for different disciplines to share ideas and thoughts. The opportunities and potential this realises is significant. However, are employers ready to continue facilitating such lateral communication in a more normal world?
“Often seen as an aspirational goal pre-pandemic, genuine cross-team collaboration has now become the norm in many businesses, made possible by the openness of people and the democratisation of access enabled by remote working and modern tech.” Tom Portingale.
“Where organisations have furloughed employees, or had to make redundancies, some employees will have been redeployed into roles that will have previously been unfamiliar to them. For many, this will have proved a welcome challenge and will have prompted them to think about career options outside of what they perceived to be their previous set of existing skills”. Julian Ward, Group Head of Talent Acquisition, Stickyeyes.
Working from wherever
The debate around working from home appears, like so much around Covid, binary. Will people insist on working from home when it begins to lift or will they desperately want the company and collaboration of colleagues and head back to the office? Or will we listen to those employees who want to make their own decisions about where they work? And perhaps when? Rather than being a home or office worker, will people have spent the last two months recognising that each has its merits and they feel they can benefit from a combination, depending on a particular project or task?
“Despite people looking forward to returning to the workplace, and some sense of normality, there will be an expectation that employers will be more open to people working in a more flexible manner, especially where this wasn’t an option pre-Covid. This will likely be contingent on what productivity levels have looked like over that past couple of months. While some organisations will have been pleasantly surprised, others may have suffered”, Julian Ward.
Time to reflect
Everyone’s experience of lockdown will differ. Such differences will depend on family circumstances, where lockdown has taken place, potential side hustles as well as finances. However, for many of us, there will have been time to think, time to ponder. How might work, for example, be structured better? Have better outcomes? Better aspirations and goals? With the benefit of perspective, how could their employer and their employment change? Such people are likely to flood back into the workplace full of ideas and suggestions. How will their organisation deal with this?
“I think people have appreciated different things, having space and time to play with their kids, not having the long commute, so maybe they’ll want to have more sense of a bigger picture, a bigger purpose as an enduring legacy”.Julie Griggs.
Diversity
This, for me, feels a very sensitive and nuanced space: particularly given the last week’s US atrocities. Clearly, certain demographic groups have been impacted to a greater degree by Covid-19 within the UK. Those have included the elderly, the overweight, males and those from the BAME community. At the same time, Covid-19 has impacted us all. We have all had our fears, our coping mechanisms, our ups and downs. It is the ultimate shared experience. We are all affected in one way or another. We all have our stories. It is universal. Will, then, we return to the workforce if not physically closer, then slightly more emotionally closer? Those that come through this crisis, regardless of ethnicity, age, gender and culture, will have done so together.
Getting to the heart of your employee mindset 