The changing market demands due to COVID-19 are driving organisations to evaluate re-skilling their workforce.
Workforce agility is key say 84% of Companies in Singapore according to a survey by Aon.
A leading professional services firm has released the results of a new global pulse survey focused on how companies are rethinking their human capital strategies in response to the humanitarian and economic impacts of the novel coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic. The COVID19 crisis has forced companies to evaluate employees beyond their current roles and look closely at employee potential, capability, and most importantly, adaptability to change. Building an agile workforce has emerged as a top priority for HR and business leaders.
Over 400 HR leaders and professionals in Singapore were surveyed from 17 August to 25 August 2020, the survey was called "Accelerating Workforce Agility and Resilience." 84% of respondents said that an agile workforce, defined as quickly assigning new roles to employees to support changing business needs, is now more important to the success of their business than ever before. However, only 38% currently view their workforces as agile.
Na Boon Chong, Managing Director and Partner, Human Capital, Southeast Asia, Aon Said, "This workforce agility gap between what employees can handle today versus what will be required of them in the near future is a major challenge for companies across industries…The main issue that businesses are facing today is re-skilling the workforce in the right way. At the same time, the ease of remote working tells us that closing off borders to talent is not the solution."
If agile is the way of the future, is HR future-ready?
As more companies plan to extend their remote working arrangements, three-quarters of all respondents said they are investing in new tools and technology to improve productivity and collaboration. More than half of the respondents are also providing employees with well-being tools and programmes. Additionally, 46% of survey respondents said that their companies have enhanced or are considering enhancing allowances and reimbursements to cover mobile phone, internet and home office expenses.
While the above measures go beyond simply identifying the roles that can or cannot work remotely, companies are still unsure of exactly how their working models need to change. Enhancing remote work arrangements will create new types of productivity measurements, especially around collaboration metrics, that are more suited to the agile workforce of the future. This was echoed by 84% of survey respondents who said that assessing employees for adaptability, collaboration and communications skills is extremely important in the current business climate.
Alexander Krasavin, Partner and Regional Commercial Head, Human Capital, APAC & MEA, Aon said, "Creating agile workforces across industries will include data analysis, segmentation of the workforce, and a sustained period of experimentation, until the right mix of technology and human capital can be achieved…Remote working has highlighted the massive shift in working models, bringing into sharper focus the issue of agility. Various sectors are thinking about these things differently -- some are using data and questioning how to make remote work better. Others, such as technology companies, have taken a more bottom-up approach."
When work is no longer a place you go, talent searches can become more inclusive. When remote work is no longer a benefit but a norm, the talent acquisition process is opening up to a global pool of candidates, making the correlation between remote workforces and diversity clear to HR leaders.
Attracting and retaining diverse employees ranked third among the top 10 factors needed to build and maintain an agile workforce, according to the survey. In addition, 87% of respondents felt that inclusive work culture was important, ahead of factors such as identifying employees with digital skills, introducing new career paths, or developing flexible compensation programmes.
To enable an inclusive work culture, 66% of survey respondents say their companies are prepared to support working parents who may not have access to childcare facilities. However, these efforts are currently tied to enhancing Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs). More broadly, 33% of survey respondents indicated that their companies have changed, or are actively considering changing, their time-off policies in response to the pandemic. Among these companies, 28% created additional emergency paid leave policies beyond what is required by law to cover caregiving, illness or quarantining in 2020. Another 8% created policies covering both 2020 and 2021, and 2% created permanent policies.
Efforts to create an inclusive workplace, among many others, are believed to improve workforce resilience. Chong observed, "The COVID-19 pandemic has raised important questions, such as should businesses widen the scope of social responsibility by partnering more with the government to pay for some of the externalities? Is resilience more important than efficiency?”. Addressing these questions will create the right kind of resilient and agile workforce − one that makes the future of HR a 'knew better'.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
