HRO Today March 2021 - 13

COVID-19: ONE YEAR LATER
developed cross-team groups called " People Opting to Do
Something " (PODS) with the goal of providing support
and collaboration tools for employees across the country.
The purpose of these PODS is multifold, including:
* creating a heightened sense of engagement;
* reducing isolation;
* increasing general comradery;
* developing social bonds;
* offering regular cadence for check-ins; and
* creating small communities within the larger
organization.
With the pandemic proving how agile and adaptable
organizations can be, some newer approaches are likely to
stick around. " I think flexible schedules will be ingrained
into most organizations as the norm now, " Smith says.
" Balancing onsite and distributed environments will be a
discussion topic for leadership moving forward. "
Murabito agrees. " In the past, there were some roles
that we felt couldn't -or shouldn't-be done at home.
That theory no longer applies as the vast majority of our
employees are working at home now and have been since
last March. It's been a good lesson for us to learn. Our
internal surveys tell us that employees really value the
flexibility that comes with working at home and largely
want to continue to work this way in the future. So now,
our challenge is to figure out how best to enable that and
continue to build and enhance our workplace culture and
connectedness. "
DocuSign is zeroing in on a culture of inclusion in
anticipation of the shift to a hybrid model-a blend of inoffice
and remote workers-once office spaces completely
reopen. " There's a need for HR to rethink, and help
managers rethink, how we get work done and with what
tools while engaging and empowering employees, " Burke
explains.
For a hybrid model to be successful, she says organizations
should continue leveraging tools like Slack and Zoom and
reimburse employees for the expenses that come with
working from home. But good execution will depend on
HR leaders' ability to keep the lines of communication
open. With that in mind, feedback from regular employee
engagement surveys can help guide strategy.
" As we look ahead, we will take our learnings from this
year and continue with an employee-first approach across
the board, regardless of where they're working, " she says.
45%
of leaders plan on building an
organizational culture that celebrates
growth, adaptability, and resilience in
order to transform work.
Source: Deloitte
Ally Financial's Patterson says that moving forward,
employees will expect more flexibility in their jobs and
companies will need to adapt. " We firmly believe in the
powerful, positive cultural impact that having employees
in facilities together brings, " she explains. " Ally is not
a company that will go fully virtual. We get too much
energy, creativity, and efficiencies from the collaboration
that can only happen face-to-face. But we will need to
approach things with our employees in new ways that
make it easier to balance personal demands with that of
the business, ensuring Ally is a place people want to work,
where they can grow and develop both personally and
professionally. "
Nguyen believes digitization's impact will continue in 2021,
shaping how organizations grow and retain talent. " The
acceleration of digitization and automation will drive us
to innovate more and therefore prompt organizations
to reskill and upskill existing talent, " she says. " From
my view as an HR leader, this means nurturing a culture
of continuous learning and formalizing ongoing talent
development programs as the vertical career progression
model of yesterday falls to the side. "
MARCH 2021 | www.hrotoday.com
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HRO Today March 2021

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