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As Human Resource (HR) practitioners look towards the post-COVID economy, employee wellbeing will need to feature at the top of their list.
No business leader would have predicted that this era in history would bring with it a pandemic, economic turmoil, international employment crisis, and consequent widespread health implications. Even as the recovery process has gained momentum through 2021, Covid-19 has left an indelible mark on the way we live and work.
While industries have been ravaged by the pandemic, the downturn has been felt the most among the workforce – in the form of terminations, furloughs, shifts to full work-from-home schedules, pay-cuts, and overall employee demotivation.
While many other changes may seem temporary, being predominantly employee-centric is therefore one behavior that will transform the future of work in permanent ways.
Focusing on the right values, cultivating critical talent, and having a clear vision of organisational culture will be the cornerstones of a better and more successful workplace in 2021. This includes taking the time to understand what drives and motivates employees.
Research titled, ‘Influence of Wellness Programs on Performance of the Banking Industry in Kenya,’ published by HR Mars, established that wellness programs influence performance through preventive care, education and training on the importance of employee wellness as well as through supportive management.
A 2019 Brighter Monday Kenya white paper on how to get most from the Millennial employee, found that 63 per cent of respondents say flexible working hours is a factor that motivates them the most to accomplish their tasks at work.
17 per cent of respondents say they prefer introduction of health programmes as key motivators to accomplish work compared to 8.4 per cent who prefer taking regular breaks from desk and 7.4 per cent who prefer regular fun activities.
Putting out workforce management-related fires whilst being in crisis mode has shaped the year for most HR leaders, and made them arguably one of the most important business functions along with the communications department to keep the wheels turning – looking after not only the legalities around managing employees, but also their wellbeing; a far more sensitive task.
Having said that, 2021 has also been a year of new learnings, practices, and technologies in the HR space – and the year has inadvertently served to accelerate several trends that were already occurring in our work culture.
Learning from everything that many industries have undergone this year, here’s a look at the HR trends we foresee for 2021:
The Writer is the Chief of Human Resources at VFS Global
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Financial Fortune is a digital financial news website and print business magazine published in Nairobi by Fortune & Transit Publishers Ltd and covers the financial services sector through news, views and extensive people coverage since 2018.
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