Nobody in any HR department in America is going to be able to slack off ever again, or at least that’s how it feels right now… Okay, let’s be fair; maybe slacking off is not the right choice of words for teams with a reputation for always being on-task and always stepping up to do the heavy lifting.
But ask yourself: did human resources ever get as much done in as short a period of time as it is now during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Human resources staff have been adapting corporate operations and policies at a breakneck pace to handle the sudden shutdowns and forced closures. Among other things, HR staff have found themselves:
- Drafting and implementing remote work policies from scratch
- Putting together health and wellness updates for staff
- Mothballing in-office operations
- Managing the transition of in-person HR processes to online services
- Updating and putting into practice continuity of business strategies
- Providing staff with mental health and wellness support and resources
And all of that has happened in a matter of weeks!
Was any HR policy or practice in history ever put together that fast?
That speed is causing some executives and even other HR professionals to ask the inevitable question: what exactly was the holdup with this stuff before?
No One Ever Lets You Stop At Just One Miracle
Let’s face it, there are a lot of people out there who don’t really appreciate the time and effort HR staff put into the job. You do a lot of things behind the scenes that helps the rest of the organization succeed. Behind the scenes is not a role that gets a lot of credit, however.
Major Accomplishments May Become Standard Expectations for HR Departments
On a long list of changes that could be coming to the HR profession after COVID-19 subsides, new expectations for quick turn-arounds on HR projects may not be at the top of your list of concerns. But one thing is for sure, now that HR departments have proven they can adapt and accomplish goals at lightning speed, any task that comes down the pike from here on out is going to have to happen at break-neck speeds too:
Hiring Will Have to Kick in Quickly…
One place where this might come out fairly soon is in hiring.
Although economic forecasts are all across the board, 17 million people have been laid off in slightly less than a month according to unemployment numbers posted by the Brookings Institute. That reflects a combination of cratering business demand and lockdown orders in various states. While business may not immediately jump in every industry as soon as the lock down orders are rolled back, in many cases a pent-up demand could result in a surge of customers.
That means some businesses that just finished a round of layoffs will find themselves dramatically understaffed. HR will be under pressure to ramp up hiring just as fast as they were letting people go only weeks ago.
