As remote working continues for many employees across the UK, Paydata outlines the importance of an agile reward system that can respond and adapt, to deliver what employees value during these uncertain times.
The mass adoption of working from home for many organisations, due to coronavirus, brings with it the key challenge of managing and engaging a remote workforce. Whilst technology can drive connectivity and many businesses will be well prepared, 45 per cent of respondents so far to Paydata’s UK Reward Management Survey fear that employee morale will decrease.
Adjusting to a ‘new normal’
Some employers recognise that the challenges created may lead to long-term opportunities, including the long-term integration of modern work practices; greater implementation of working from home and flexible working; and creating the time to step back and work on business improvements. However, concerns during this transition period into the ‘new normal’ do centre around the effect on employee morale and productivity.
Here are three key recommendations to keep engagement levels high within your workforce during this uncertain time and ensure that employees feel supported.
- Actively listen
The issues raised by this pandemic for HR professionals are wide and varied. From ensuring that employees feel safe and protected in their working environment to allaying stresses faced by employees responsible for work and childcare right now, each individual is facing a unique combination of challenges during this period.
Respondents to Paydata’s UK Reward Management Survey are being asked about the most common tactics they are using to protect their workforce and support their people, whilst continuing to serve their customers during this turbulent time. The top five strategies employers are adopting include: asking employees to work from home (100 per cent of employers surveyed); cancelling face-to-face meetings (100 per cent); communicating healthcare advice (92 per cent); encouraging self-isolation (92 per cent); and offering flexible work hours (87 per cent). Other initiatives include offering support with purchasing home workstation equipment, wellbeing initiatives and providing channels to keep employees connected.
Working from home is a new experience for many employees and employers during this period. Similarly, it is critical that customers understand what distancing means in practice in order to adequately protect key workers, for example in supermarkets and banks. Employers have installed clear screens in many customer facing roles and markers help customers uphold these measures. All signal the clear steps that are being upheld to reduce the risks to employees whilst trying to achieve business as usual as much as possible. By ensuring their opinions are heard, employees feel more invested in the organisation they work for, which drives their motivation beyond the presence of lockdown restrictions.
- Trust employees
Successful cultures are built on collaboration and empowering employees to deliver what they can during these extraordinary circumstances. By determining how each employee can each make the best contribution in the circumstances, this agreement can serve to strengthen the employer-employee relationship on both sides. In so far as possible, give employees flexible working opportunities, more autonomy and defined goals to secure their job satisfaction.
96 per cent of respondents to Paydata’s UK Reward Management Survey have said that the effectiveness of their response to COVID-19 will significantly influence employee opinion of them as an employer in the long-term. Let employees contribute to building a successful culture by giving them the tools and protection to thrive in their workplace during these times, promoting buy-in from all employees. Connecting employees to one another virtually to overcome isolation anxiety and addressing any wellbeing concerns by providing access to the right support and resources will alleviate the inevitable stress faced by all employees trying to juggle home life, childcare and customer demands during lockdown.
- Remain agile
Successful cultures are not created overnight and the long-term hope of many employers is that this will enable them to implement ongoing flexible working and greater opportunities to work from home. This experience can be built on through feedback from employees and candidates with entry interviews, exit interviews and understanding how an organisation’s Employee Value Proposition is perceived in the market. Collectively, this information can accurately measure the effectiveness of where employers are now in relation to what they want their culture to achieve.
It costs far more to replace an employee than it does to take the time to understand whether they are receiving the correct level of support and retain them. Taking steps now to protect jobs where possible and uphold the safety of employees in their working environment will define an employer in the eyes of their employees. Are you listening to government advice and ensuring employees feel that they are being protected? How are you facilitating working from home arrangements to the best of your ability? If pay budgets look strained, how can you access the right support you need to financially support employees? Looking after staff now will ensure that they do not jump ship at the first opportunity when the crisis passes.
Enforced changes to people’s roles have seen many of our customers make the best of the new situation. 87 per cent have a business continuity plan in place and 80 per cent have reported that HR have taken a prominent position in formulating the business continuity plans. Whilst the challenges are undeniable, ensuring that employers support individuals with clear communication around their approach during this period will define them as an employer in the future.
Have your say
To contribute your views and how COVID-19 is shaping your company’s workplace, take just ten minutes to complete Paydata’s UK Reward Management Survey and receive your free report.
