How Coronavirus Will Impact The Future of Work and HR

The role of HR is more critical than ever before but also the most in jeopardy. The coronavirus poses both an opportunity for HR leaders to achieve their goal of "getting a seat at the table" with their CEOs while threatening their very existence. HR leaders that will maintain their value are those that can develop and initiate disaster recovery, remote work and mental health programs, control costs, focus on talent management and crisis communications, all while staying inside legal parameters and being an asset to their CEOs. We desperately need HR to meet the needs of this new work paradigm that we are living through right now.

While HR's responsibilities are abundant, they are the biggest targets for layoffs. They are the last to get hired and the first to get fired. Companies typically don't hire their first HR person until they grow to fifty employees and now since organizations are losing money, HR jobs will be high on the CEO's elimination list. But as depressing as that sounds, there is a life raft for HR professionals who desire to survive the next decade of layoffs, automation, disruption, and consolidation. The biggest challenge is overcoming the fear that is forcing us to change in order to stay relevant and employed.

Over the past week, I've dissected how almost every aspect of HR will be impacted by the Coronavirus. These areas include recruiting, interviewing, compensation, employee benefits, learning and development, performance management, labor policies, technology and automation, and disaster recovery. As I walk you through each HR role and responsibility, you'll understand not only how it's being impacted, but how you can pivot and change your behavior and practices to survive and thrive as the entire world of work as we know it transforms.

Recruiting

The national unemployment rate as of February is 3.5 percent, but now the government predicts that it could hit 20 percent for March, which of course signals a recession. The International Labor Organization estimates that 25 million jobs could be lost globally. Much like the recession of 2008, the economic impact on companies will cause them to have massive layoffs while being much slower to hire new workers for a long time. Even before the coronavirus became a pandemic, companies have been slow to hire since the last recession. Only 30 percent of companies are able to fill a vacant role in a month and the other 70 percent take one to four months to fill a role. Recruiting will continue to slow as budgets get cut in most industries.

Hiring freezes are starting to occur at major companies that are focused on maintaining their current headcount while controlling costs. Some of these companies include Blackrock, Boeing, Southwest Airlines and the U.S. National Intelligence. CEOs will continue to freeze hiring out of the economic pressure their companies are enduring. When we finally come out of this pandemic, companies will be more cautious when it comes to recruiting and there will be even more pressure on current workers to be more productive, without pay raises, which will perpetuate our burnout crisis.

Interviewing

As a global workforce, we are moving from a series of in-person interviews that extend from weeks to months with several rounds to virtual ones that are more cost-efficient. It's dangerous to interview someone in-person that you've never met because they may be a carrier of the virus. Firms will get comfortable using video interviewing technology to interview candidates for jobs after realizing the cost savings, efficiency and reach. These video interviews will be much more common even coming out of the pandemic much like remote work. As evidence of the rise of video interviewing, apps like Zoom and Cisco's Webex have skyrocketed in terms of both usage and profitability. Technology companies and recruiting firms recently announced that they will move to online job interviews at least for the duration of the crisis.

EY was early to change their UK student recruitment process in response to the pandemic by making as many parts as possible virtual. All of their "EY Experience Days" have been transformed into virtual events for candidates who are applying for undergraduate, graduate and apprenticeship programs. Amazon followed suit by moving from in-person to video interviews for certain jobs, and more will continue to rapidly move in this direction out of necessity.

Compensation

While there are no reports on how worker compensation will be affected by the recession, it's safe to say that they will not be as high as originally projected in 2019. A WorldatWork survey projected the U.S. salary budgets to rise by 3.3 percent this year, which is up .1 percent from 2019. But, The International Labor Organization reports that workers could lose between $860 billion and $3.4 trillion in pay because of the economic collapse and quarantines. While my last article focused on the vulnerable hourly workers who were losing their jobs, filing for unemployment and without much of a safety net, executives are now forced to reduce their pay in order to keep their jobs. Those who are getting paid the most are vulnerable right now too because they are big targets for pay cuts or layoffs for companies desperate to save money to remain afloat. Many of the CEOs of the largest airlines are taking a pay cut, as well as the CEO of Marriott and Lyft. Amtrak is cutting management pay, while also asking for a $1 billion bailout from the government. Compensation for every job in every industry will be impacted, whether there's a layoff, a pay cut or no bonus.

Employee benefits

There are two employee benefits that are becoming more prominent in this crisis. The first, and the one I've already covered, is remote work. Gartner recently surveyed employers and found that 90 percent have either encouraged or required employees to work from home and up to 30 percent of employees will remain at home even after the pandemic is over. The reason why remote working will be prolonged is that children are home from school, companies will realize the cost savings and employees will be adjusted to their new work environment and benefit from it. HR leaders that either create or carry-out remote work policies will help their organizations transform and sustain through the crisis and beyond.

The second employee benefit that HR needs to focus on is mental health at work. Social distancing, self-isolation, burnout, reduced hours and job loss is severely impacting employees' mental health. We feel anxious and depressed when we don't have human contact, can't provide for ourselves or our families and have an uncertain future. In a national survey by Axios, they found that about one-fourth of people said their mental health and emotional well-being had gotten worse in the last week alone compared to only 8 percent who said their physical health. In China, where the virus started and has taken 3,261 lives to date, about 43 percent of citizens have anxiety related to the epidemic. One of the companies that have had the spotlight recently for their mental health program is Starbucks. They have expanded their mental health benefits giving up to twenty free therapy sessions to employees with unlimited access to self-care tech apps.

Learning and development

All learning is at least temporarily being moved to virtual learning. The conference and events business is 'virtually' non-existent right now (~50% of in-person programs have been postponed or canceled through June 30th) and even schools are shut down for at least the next month. At the same time, the global eLearning market is set to grow from $107 billion in 2015 to $325 billion in 2025, and this was an estimate from last year before the pandemic so that number is going to be much greater in the aftermath. Instead of on-site training, there will be more webinars and virtual experiences, in addition to access to online training courses. Learning should be a daily ritual and if companies aren't providing access to it, individuals should feel empowered to invest in their own education. HR has the opportunity to find an online learning solution, hire speakers to deliver content virtually and provide resources as required.

Performance management

HR has been especially lenient and supportive when it comes to performance management during this crisis. Tesco is giving all its workers a 10 percent bonus, while Facebook is giving all employees "exceeds expectations" on their reviews to ensure they get their bonuses. Google, on the other hand, is preventing employees from receiving their pay raises by pushing pack performance reviews by six months. HR needs to rethink and reimagine performance management at a time of a crisis, where the normal evaluation criteria don't apply as much. It's important to express empathy, understanding, and care with performance reviews when work has been so disrupted.

Labor policies

One of the foundational responsibilities of HR has been reacting to new workplace legislation and it's no easy task. A study by Kronos found that more than half of HR professionals say it costs upwards of $100,00 to prepare for each labor-related regulatory change. The first of many policies is the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which so far only impacts small businesses with fewer than five hundred employees, providing limited paid-leave benefits to employees who are affected by the coronavirus emergency. But, even larger companies feel like it's their responsibility to provide paid leave relief to workers. About half of employers require sick leave for the coronavirus. HR is the department that should be handling these new policies and preparing for future ones.

Technology and automation

As I mention in my book "Back to Human", technology is a double-edged sword. While technology can reduce jobs, it can also make our lives more efficient and better. The coronavirus has forced manufacturers to rely on automation in order to reduce their financial impact but reducing headcount as a result. Robots are helping battle the coronavirus by facilitating conversation between infected patients and hospital staff, protecting medics, answering patient questions and disinfecting contaminated hospitals. Robots and humans are working side by side during this crisis, getting us used to the partnership, which will carry over in the aftermath. HR should become knowledgeable in using emerging tools that will reshape their jobs and become increasingly common like chatbots and virtual reality. With so many people working remotely, virtual reality will become critical to increase employee engagement and make people feel less isolated.

Disaster recovery

Perhaps the biggest responsibility HR has right now is to create and execute a disaster recovery plan to help their business recover from the coronavirus. This typically involves training staff (virtually) on how to respond to the emergency, stay in communication with stakeholders, manage the flow of information coming in and out of the company, freeze hiring and travel and keep track of where employees are. In an interview with HRD, Sembcorp CHRO Wendy Foong said that "HR plays a very big role in the emergency response team." Wendy and her team are looking to have remote work be part of their continuity program. By handling this disaster, HR can prove their value and earn the trust of their CEO.

The future

The workplace as we knew it will never be the same again. While the pandemic will leave a lot of workers behind, it will also create new opportunities for those who are willing to change, expand their responsibilities and become leaders. Every obstacle we overcome makes us stronger, smarter and more resilient in the future. Let this pandemic force you to educate yourself, get new skills and adapt. By preparing right now, you will be in a better position in the aftermath of this pandemic and be able to handle the obstacles we can't foresee in the future.

Comment below on how your HR job is being affected by the pandemic.

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