Managing Employees in an Uncertain Climate
More than one year into a global pandemic, we have seen dramatic shifts in the Human Capital Management/Human Resources Information Technology space.
Many more employees are working from home, creating uncertainty in a number of areas. Is the company responsible for supplying work equipment or paying a portion of the employee’s bills relating to working from home? How do we balance work and personal time when our employees are caring for family members at home? Just as importantly, how do we shift our managerial style when our employees may not be accustomed to working independently?
In addition to the work-from-home aspect, new legislation passed in 2020 and continuing into 2021 requires rapid response from businesses – including developing policies and guidelines as well as on-the-fly configuration of systems to remain compliant.
Some common changes we have experienced during this truly unprecedented time include:
Our clients increasing use of employee self-service and manager self-service within the HRIS
Our clients eliminating paper-based processes and moving toward digital forms and employee files
Our clients scrambling to develop contingency plans in order to perform key back office functions (payroll, benefits administration, employee management) from home/remote locations
Mass amounts of data being moved into cloud servers, moving away from “in-house” data farms and servers
Elimination of paper checks and paper tax forms – requiring all employees to go to direct deposit and electronic forms
Employees moving away from work location area, recruiting nets expanded to tap into larger talent pool
However, the above topics ideally would be addressed under “normal” operating conditions. Even though our focus this year has been, and rightfully so, on the global virus pandemic, we have experienced other events and factors that require planning for the unknown. Fires, floods, earthquakes, other natural disasters can prevent key staff from entering office buildings and other work locations. Even the Christmas day bombing in Nashville, TN knocked power out and data servers for an extended period of time.
JT Tech Consulting has been assisting UKG Pro©/UltiPro© clients to navigate the ever-changing landscape by helping business to maintain compliance, develop contingency plans, migrate business processes to electronic based workflows, and keep employees engaged. Remember, in the end, we are all in this together. If you are interested in assistance with any of the above, please contact us today!
