The Value of HR: Lessons Learned From the Pandemic

Since the pandemic happened, HR has been under the spotlight. There were certain characteristics of HR departments that left valuable remarks about their ability to lead and act swiftly. In a Forbes article by Hafiza Gujaran – the Head of People at AlixPartners and a member of Forbes HR council, shared observations from her network, people-centric organisation and observed responses from HR functions of various companies.

Here Are Some Valuable Lessons That She Gathered:

1. The ‘Human’ in HR Steps Up

Being human isn’t just black and white. There’s a grey area that requires daily reinforcement of our wisdom, experience and judgement in the work we do. The relationship between an employee’s wellbeing and an organisation’s wellbeing is more of a cycle than a straight road. If you really think about it, it’s codependent and intertwined with identifying what being “human” really means during times of crisis and when it comes to balancing all pillars of an organisation such as employees, customers, clients, vendors, and so on. The greatest value in HR is making sure that leaderships make fair and balanced decisions that considers the well-being of both employees and organisation.

2. Must-Have Skills Include: Agility and Strategic-Change Management

In Gujaran’s 20-year and counting career in HR, she realised that change management is a core skill to be a must-have value of HR. Among other things, agility is increasingly associated with HR as it concerns how soon one can bring behavioural changes in people and the sustainability of adapting to change. With that said, rigid organisations have had to rethink how work can be done differently in a virtual space while being surrounded by multiple distractions. HR’s value lies in constantly ensuring organisations have the right communications, processes, procedures, policies and etc, to make this shift. HR functions with a well-defined change management strategy are way ahead of the industry as they think about communications, training, impacts, risks and more to as they link behavioural change management to every initiative. However, there are many factors for agile businesses to transform including technological investment and decision-making protocols. Despite these decisions, the catalyst to close these gaps lie in an agile HR function.

3. Easy Access and Flexible People Data

Good people metrics makes HR very impactful. Given the unforeseen circumstances like the pandemic, it’s become crucial for organisations to have easy and flexible access to various types of employee data. Prior to this, organisations only needed basic data such as headcount, compensation, job history and so on, to be readily available. With that said, when businesses are faced with such uncertainty – they are forced to change rapidly, increasing the need for relevant people data. Business decisions will heavily affect HR’s capability to make relevant people data available during critical and life-changing situations. The bigger question is, will there be people, processes or systems in place to determine what data is necessary and how to get it ASAP? Strong HR functions are equipped with progressive data systems that provide predictive analytics that can be updated according to ever-changing business needs.

Conclusion: Reinforcing core values

Organisations may practice different core values and prioritise each of them differently – making it important for HR to ensure that their organisation’s business response is reflective of these values.

If we value communications, are employees getting the right detail and level of communications? If we value team building, are groups feeling like a strong team while not being face to face? If we value integrity, how are we empowering employees when working virtually? If our core values mention that we care about our people, are managers and leaders truly exhibiting care for their people? Hafiza Gujaran, Head of People at AlixPartners

Despite the endemic, it shouldn’t disrupt HR managers from achieving what needs to be done for an organisation – attracting the best, developing and retaining organisational value. For more information on HR management software solutions, get in touch with us today!