A wise HR knows that a person is the best investment

The pandemic period is undoubtedly a difficult time for all of us. Challenges confront us at every turn - whether due to the limitations of contact with each other, or due to the multitude of activities that companies have to perform in order to transform the work model to a more remote one, and many others. All this raises a number of questions, ambiguities or simply anxiety, so HR professionals have their hands full. It is good HR practice to simply go back to the roots, i.e. to a very direct relationship with employees who required support during this period.

Digitization

In the maze of responsibilities of HR departments in companies, specialists in this field are finding a solution in the increasing digitization of processes. There are many tools on the market to automate these processes, which in turn allows to set aside the necessary time, for example, for a conversation over a good coffee with an employee about his pains or concerns. Technologies increasingly allow to replace simple steps in recruitment or implementation processes, giving HR professionals more time for direct contact with candidates and employees.

The economic downturn and the role of HR

The logical behavior of the lion's share of companies during this difficult time is to exercise considerable restraint in the area of hiring, or even to reduce positions. However, time shows that this is not the method to mitigate the economic downturn, and ultimately to recover from it. The market is changing dynamically and adapting to the new reality. Therefore, in order to successfully emerge from the economic downturn, companies will need employees who can effectively assist them with current challenges, finding new ways to reach customers or developing offerings that better meet changing consumer needs. Fortunately, at this point we are not yet facing a talent shortage in the labor market, and it is important to make the most of this situation. HR professionals should focus on processes related to finding new staff, fresh young heads full of ideas in finding new ways to reach customers. It is equally a good idea to develop their own staff through career coaching, upskilling and reskilling, which will allow the transfer of employees between different departments of their own staff. Freezing development budgets is not a good strategy, as employee development can be the key to successfully reskilling the economy. A person is always the best investment.

HR's direction

The coming years will undoubtedly see further rapid progress in the development of technologies related to the HR industry. Processes such as recruitment, hiring and human capital management will be better aligned with the new digital reality. We will see closer and closer meetings between HR and business. After more than a year of pandemonium, we can see that close cooperation between business representatives and HR enables effective transformation of the business model, as well as the creation of a competence development program that will allow the company to regain or maintain a competitive advantage in the market. HR teams are becoming more flexible, with "out of the box" thinking to create better and better solutions that meet current market needs as precisely as possible.