• Work-life balance – One of the drawbacks of the flexibility of remote working is the disappearance of boundaries between the workplace and home. At the same time, employees are also anxious and insecure about their jobs, so they want to show that they are working. Very often, this leads to back-toback video calls throughout the day and often late into the evening, beyond their working hours.
Furthermore, many people do not have dedicated workspaces in their homes and this can lead to physiological issues. A WTW survey examining the business impact of COVID-19 on benefits found that one-third of the employers in Asia Pacific believe that COVID19 will have a moderate to large negative impact on employee well-being.
There are many questions when it comes to envisioning the future impact and role of HR post-COVID-19. With the new normal shaping the future of HR, do you think HR will matter now more than ever as we come out of this crisis? HR is in a unique position to make a strategic impact on businesses. As a result of the pandemic and crisis, there is an increased focus on the future of work. As companies move through various stages of managing the crisis to restoring stability, their HR leaders are increasingly thinking about making their operations more sustainable. The HR function will play a key role in decisions related to responsible automation, helping business stakeholders deliver work through optimal humanmachine combinations. Jobs will continue to be redesigned, not only for flexibility but also to deliver higher value, as transacdecember 2020 |
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• Organizational processes and culture – Some organizations lack clarity on goals. This has led to challenges with performance assessment.
Leadership mindset and culture may not support the future of remote work. The lack of trust by managers in their employees means that managers still want to see their people in front of them working. This culture of ‘face time’ will lead to virtual presenteeism and can result in problems for managers.
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As a result of these accelerating trends, business leaders are now faced with these three challenges: • Technology infrastructure – Most organizations struggled with providing remote and secure access to company systems, as well as hardware. Security systems needed to be upgraded urgently as more people accessed systems remotely, and in many cases, organizations had to send desktop computers which were loaded with company software to employees’ houses. In addition, Internet connectivity across different countries in Asia Pacific is hugely varied.
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