Blog

"Employee engagement" is not a new term in the slightest, but it has become increasingly important to organizations over the past year. In most cases, managers, leaders or peers could go up to another employee and have a chat without hesitation. Since the shift to remote working or socially distant office working, everyday face-to-face conversations between coworkers have become non-existent. Now you're forced to go through a "middle-man," such as an email, instant message software or form six feet apart!

Gone are the days of traveling to a distant city, staying in a hotel, and participating in a one, or two-day accredited course to learn new skills to add to your professional repertoire. And with the current pandemic, you can forget about attending multiple breakout sessions and limitless presentations at a professional conference. Luckily many associations have moved to virtual events where you can now take advantage of learning sessions.

Economic constraints have impacted many businesses and organizations, which causes learning budgets to be drastically cut year-over-year. At the same time, employers have not necessarily assessed the expertise they need for the future and how to invest in the talent to make businesses flourish.

History shows that resilient organizations recover quickly in changing market conditions and fast-moving disruptions. Updating your talent acquisition strategy to be more resilient is key for optimizing a bounce back. Our Trendicators survey of HR leaders revealed that 43% of organizations planned on ramping up their hiring efforts in Q3 and Q4 of 2020, with 47% expecting their talent acquisition budget to increase to support these efforts.

Supporting talent acquisition efforts means adapting to the remote working environment. While working from home is not a new concept, it has opened many organization's eyes when it comes to their recruiting process. 

If 2020 taught us anything, it is that the institutions and systems we rely on as a society are vulnerable and fragile. The year that may go down as the worst in history delivered a series of previously unfathomable crises that underscored dangerous cracks in our systems for ensuring health, safety, social justice, and effective governance.

The HR profession was on the front lines of responding to the health, safety and economic consequences of the pandemic while also addressing issues of inequality and fairness in the workplace in response to widespread social protests. The impacts of these crises, and the contemplation of their longer-term consequences in the workplace, will ultimately require a reevaluation of organizational responsibility for the psychological and emotional well-being of workers.