Deloitte: Top 10 shifts in the workplace due to COVID-19
Business Chief takes a look Deloitte’s ‘Returning to Work in the Future of Work’ report and the top 10 shifts in the workplace due to COVID-19
Purpose and mission
In the report Deloitte first highlights how COVID-19 has emphasised the need for people to connect their work to a greater purpose and mission, in order to have the highest level of motivation.
With this in mind, Deloitte explains that as people start to return to work, organisations should aim to create clear connections across jobs, team objectives and the organisation’s mission.
Well-being
With physical, mental and financial security becoming top priorities with the outbreak of COVID-19, well-being has come to the forefront.
As organisations return to work, it will be vital for organisations to go beyond fostering open discussion and practices. Deloitte emphasises the importance of embedding well-being into every aspect of work, as well as redesigning work towards outputs, to allow workers to live and perform at their best.
Data
“COVID-19 proved that generalizing by age alone can lead to incorrect conclusions,” commented Deloitte. With organisations returning to work, Deloitte states that organisations should look to apply data driven approaches, in order to better understand the unique attributes, needs and dimensions of their workers.
“If organizations can better understand their workers, they will be able to more effectively develop targeted programs and policies that bring out workers’ personal best while affording them the health protections they need to safely do their work.”
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Deloitte reports that the pandemic has given people a greater appreciation for the power that humans and technology together can provide. As a result “organisations have an opportunity to push the envelope in the ways they integrate teams of humans and technology,” commented Deloitte who believes that organisations should evolve their thinking when it comes to technology. Rather than being a substitution, technology should be used for augmentation or collaboration.
Knowledge
“People’s hunger for information during the COVID-19 pandemic validated the phrase — knowledge is power,” commented Deloitte. With this in mind, organisations should look to leverage AI to build a culture of knowledge sharing and creation.
Resilience and adaptability
With COVID-19 reinforcing the importance of resilience and adaptability, Deloitte states that “organisations should consider how to encourage and offer opportunities for workers to continue to grow and adapt based on their potential, rather than solely on their existing skills or certification.” The company emphasises that “now is not the time to pull back,” instead organisations should double down on commitments to build a resilient workforce.
Compensation
“COVID-19 showed that compensation is as much an indicator of an organisation’s culture and values as it can be an indicator of market value,” commented Deloitte. “The pandemic also put a spotlight on pay as it relates to essential work — with some lower-paid jobs proving to be essential in a time of crisis.”
As employees return to work, organisations should reevaluate their principles — what is the foundation for their compensation philosophy, programs and policies.
“The conversation should not be limited to market value, but should also account for human value in the form of purpose, fairness, transparency, growth, and collaboration,” added Deloitte.
Insights
“COVID-19 put the need for and ease of access to insightful and future-oriented workforce data in the spotlight,” commented Deloitte.
As organisations return to work, the company recommends that organisations take advantage of technology, and its power to collect workforce insights, determine whether they have been asking the right questions, and have the right governance and processes in place to use data.
Ethics
“COVID-19 brought ethical issues around employment to the forefront that many may previously have viewed as ivory-tower concerns, putting a spotlight on the impact of organisational decisions on workers’ lives every day,” states Deloitte.
As organisations return to work, Deloitte stresses the importance of organisations asking themselves critical questions in order to prepare for the perceived and actual ethical impacts of their decisions. “They should also be monitoring government response, as this too will continue to evolve coming out of the crisis,” added Deloitte.
HR
“In the past few months, we have seen a greater appreciation for the breadth of what HR does and can do: It has been essential,” comments Deloitte.
As organisations begin to return to work, Deloitte suggests that organisations reflect on whether their HR is positioned to make an impact. “HR should take a leading role in helping the organisation and the workforce adapt to changing organisational and business requirements.”
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