Opportunities and Consequences of the Pandemic on Business Transformation
This article has been provided by FasttracktoRefocus, members of the Chamber.
The Coronavirus is accelerating one of the biggest business transformations in decades. Yes, it’s a health crisis but for most companies, it’s also an incredible opportunity to transform.
Consider a bizarre thought. In the middle of a pandemic, our research now shows that companies are treating their employees better than ever. And employee engagement, a problem that plagues more than two-thirds of companies year after year, is actually going up.
I’ve been on the phone with more than 30 companies this week, and we are now doing a bi-weekly pulse of HR organizations. This data, coupled with a new study just completed by Willis Towers Watson, shows clearly that businesses are bending over backward to take care of their employees.
Why? Because they have to.
The Willis research found that 90% of companies believe their culture has improved, 83% believe their employee experience is better, and 84% believe employee engagement has gone up.
It took a global health crisis for business and HR leaders to wake up to the fact that when people don’t feel safe, supported, or emotionally secure, they simply cannot do their jobs. So now we see that this is a business transformation disguised as a pandemic.
Let me dig in just a little bit here and give you the data.
1/ First, companies are protecting workers. It’s clear from our data that the #1 thing on the minds of most employees today is personal financial security. Yes, they’re worried about their health, but above that they’re worried about their jobs, the viability of the company, and their ability to take care of their children, families, and parents. And for Millennials and younger workers, they are now worried about their careers.
How are companies addressing this? They’re giving employees more flexible benefits, they’re improving work at home programs, they’re giving them free wellness and other forms of education, they’re encouraging people to take a paid vacation, and they’re even helping furloughed people find new positions. Some companies are helping employees with loans and financial counselling.
While there are furloughs and layoffs in many industries, the overall focus on pay is positive. The Willis Towers Watson study found that only 15% are cutting pay and only 17% are reducing or delaying merit increases.
2/ Second is a huge increased focus on personal productivity, wellbeing, and personal resilience.
As more than 90% of companies started their work at home program, the first issue they deal with is getting computers, internet access, security, and tools into people’s homes. And this wasn’t easy.
Once people started working at home, companies immediately discovered issues in social isolation, stress, and time management. Working at home demands new set of practices for management, collaboration, and teamwork.
Well, the response has been amazing. Companies are teaching yoga and have group exercise programs online, at one company the chef is teaching cooking classes, and another has launched a “happiness challenge” for people working at home.
And on the topic of productivity, the jury is in on working at home. It is more productive than coming into the office. In the Towers study, only 21% of companies said it was holding them back, and every conversation I’ve had is about the fact that “working at home is a new practice for us” and “we may shut down a lot of offices based on this transformation.”
3/ The third transformation is a huge growth in learning, especially for leaders.
While most companies have shut down face to face training, the consumption of online learning is skyrocketing. People are home and they want to learn about the crisis, their jobs, and what they can do to stay ahead.
Every company I talked with described a voracious appetite for training: not only on business topics, but on literature, breadmaking, yoga, and more. And this is all a good thing. Remember the most balanced people are the ones who perform the best – people at home have a little more spare time, no commute time ,so they develop power skills to make themselves feel better.
4/ And this gets me to my fourth point: a changed culture of leadership.
The Willis Towers Watson study shows that 63% of HR professionals believe their organizational culture has improved, 59% believe their employee wellbeing has improved, and 55% believe their employee experience has improved. When have we seen numbers like that before? Never in my career.
Look at how managers are responding:
4.1. Covid-19 managers
Talking to many companies they told us that they are radically rethinking their leadership development programs and now focused on empathy, resilience, caring, and safety. One of the top UK companies told us her biggest worry is the mental health of the CEO and top leadership team, so they’re increasing coaching and support for them also.
4.2. Leadership in covid19
Consider this. At the start of the crisis 53% of HR teams said their leaders were “responding to the leads of others.” That number has risen to 81%.
CEOs now see that there is no way out of this crisis without caring for their people first.
5/ “Work at home” is working well.
Yes, it feels costly and disruptive at first, but as many studies show, flexible work at home gives people a feeling of agency, empowerment, and focus. The Willis study found that 79% of companies see a positive or neutral change in employee productivity, and only 21% said it went down. In other words, remote work was ALWAYS a good idea, and now it’s here to stay.
Once people start working at home, new opportunities emerge. Companies need to work in a different way and create sometimes new line of businesses that they would have not created otherwise.
By the way, we’re going to introducing a lot of education on resilience. There are really to issues here: organizational resilience and individual resilience. What the crisis has proved is that individuals adapt very fast: organizations adapt very slow. Well, all that has changed. We’re now learning that when we empower and care for people they adapt and do amazing things, we just have to give them the tools, time, and culture to succeed.
Contact me if you or your companies needs support with this.
6/ Finally, there is a new and refocused investment in HR and talent programs.
Despite the fact that budgets are being slashed and refactored in real-time, 78% are investing in more onboarding (often to accommodate remote workers), 74% are investing in recruitment (many companies are vastly changing their workforce needs), and 69% are investing in training. And 48% are changing their performance management programs.
The Crisis Is Transforming Companies in A Positive and Important Way
One of the silver linings in this crisis is our new ability to “get things done fast.” Companies are building new programs in days instead of months, and two-thirds of respondents told us that they are prioritizing relationships like never before.And get this. Trust in business leaders has gone up.
95% of the respondents in the Willis Towers Watson survey believe senior leaders have demonstrated a sincere interest in employee wellbeing and 85% believe employees have trust and confidence in the job being done by senior execs.
The bottom line on this crisis is an important lesson in business: When the company takes care of its people, the people take care of the company.
This month I share with you a guide to Prepare for Change. Downloand it HERE
If resilience, driving change and improving your wellbeing and if something of your interest, you can read my recently launched book Mindfulness at Work available at Amazon.
If you need support leading the change in your organisation or business, I am here to help you through the process. Arrange a call HERE and let’s talk about how I can help with the different Executive Coaching and Be Spoke training programs for your team (English and Spanish).
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All the best,
Nieves
Founder
P.S .I hope to see you on the 21st at the Spanish Chamber of Commerce Webinar Setting Yourself up for Success during Turbulent Times