No one was set up for what is happening on the planet at the present time. Nearly everybody is influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic; no industry is spared. While a few people have lost their jobs, others are adapting to remote work. Social distancing and restricted movement limits travel and proper utilization of resources. All of this has impacted organizations and their working styles. Almost every department has begun telecommuting, be it the HR department or the R&D.
In spite of this, individuals believe that circumstances will show signs of improvement and will be standardized before the pandemic is over. Be that as it may, work culture probably won't continue as before any longer. From production to deal conversions, everything will be changed in the way it worked so far. Here’s our guess as to how business and employees would work post COVID 19:
1. Employees would WORK FROM HOME as much as possible
With the rise in the need of social distancing, people are now moving towards remote work. We're in what's being considered as the world's biggest work-from-home trial. As the coronavirus pandemic spreads globally, humankind's most secure wager is to stay indoors and work, while seeking after the best. Individuals have already worked from the solace of their home for an extremely lengthy timespan now. Be that as it may, the pandemic has changed a great deal of things. By now, people have managed to learn to work online. Post COVID, this ‘new normal’ will become ‘the norm’.
2. Companies will take care of EMPLOYEES’ COMMUTE to the workplace
Although most work can be done over the internet, that does not hold true for all kinds of jobs. There are multiple jobs which require physical presence of the employee. Companies would execute detailed planning and roster management to decide who actually needs to visit the office and who can continue to work from home.
For those who are expected to be present at the work premises, organizations would facilitate daily commute. Post the pandemic, public transport would no longer be safe for travel as it used to be in the pre-pandemic days. Companies would ensure that employee movement is smooth and hassle-free.
3. Individual attention would be paid towards SANITIZATION and TESTING
This is the last yet the most important practice that workplaces would follow. At workplaces, there would be check posts at regular intervals to do primary checks on individuals who enter the premises. Thermal checks, sanitization booths, pulse oximetry would be common practices that would be followed to the T. Employee sensitization programs would be conducted to make the workplace a safe environment to speak up if someone is feeling unwell.
Organizations would ensure there is no jamming in the office spaces, that only half or less than 20% of the workspace is really involved. Organizations would design move obligations so that one individual doesn't remain in office for a significant stretch of time. Employee activity would also be monitored to ensure contact and surface tracing.
While all of these practices would change the way people work and majorly help to adapt to a post-COVID world, some difficulties may persist. For example, access to company documents would still remain a challenge. People working remotely may not have access to physical documents. The organization will have to intervene every time to ensure the right people get access to documents relevant to them. Those working from office may have access to physical documents but it would still be risky to touch them as you never know who the last one to touch the document was and if they may be infected.
This is a problem organizations will face, irrespective of their size. In fact, we understand that organizations do face documentation issues even today – especially the HR department. Hence, we bring to you an affordable document management solution – ShareDocs Enterpriser HRDMS. It’s a secure DMS that can be hosted on cloud or on your premises. Either ways, no one would have to touch a physical document! Document access can be given to specific users based on their role in the organization and all user activities can be tracked. What’s more, ShareDocs Enterpriser HRDMS can be integrated with your existing HRMS for seamless transfer of information. For more information, check out https://www.sharedocsdms.com/hr.
Illustration by: Priyanshi Tyagi