The second half of 2022 is underway. Quite a strange reality when it comes to the labor market. The constant challenges arising in the operation of HR departments are keeping professionals awake at night. Remote working, hybrid working or perhaps a return to the office? An internal intranet or a company newsletter? These and many other challenges are emerging on the horizon and forcing employers to take concrete action. 

Remote working or back to the office?

Two years of pandemics have revised our daily lives and made remote working a necessity for some organizations. Since then, some workplaces have permanently adopted home office working. For some, returning to the office is like a balm for their shattered nerves, but as you can see, the hybrid model has also gained many enthusiasts. 

However, before choosing the form of work that suits you best, it is worth weighing up all the pros and cons. The unquestionable advantage is the increase in employee productivity and the ability to work from the comfort of one's own sofa. At the same time, it is a reduction in the cost of maintaining large offices for employers. There are also psychological and social costs associated with remote working. According to psychologists, prolonged remote working can have a negative impact on the psychological sphere of employees. Some employers choose to keep their offices and give the choice of working in a hybrid model, which allows them to establish a kind of compromise between both options. 

Digitalisation of HR processes

The need to work from home has accelerated the digital transformation process and moved processes into the virtual world. In the area of Human Resources, these are activities such as: applying for leave, salary confirmation or submitting any application for verification. Until now, it was a necessity to show up at the HR or payroll department to get your case done. Some companies have managed to implement some solutions based on email communication, but the issue of frontline employees who do not have access to a company mailbox remains. Here, platforms such as Workplace from Meta are the ideal solution to connect all employees in the organization and ensure continuity of communication. Thanks to such solutions, we have full control over HR or onboarding processes and, in addition, each employee is able to obtain the information that is most important to them at a glance.

Communication tools

Transparent and effective communication is essential in any organization. How do you ensure that you stay in touch while working in a distributed team? Instant messaging or video conferencing tools come to the rescue. The multitude of applications can be overwhelming, but with Workplace integrations with popular tools, it is possible to use them all in one place. While it is possible to limit the number of applications used when working remotely on a temporary basis, if it is introduced on a permanent level, it is worth thinking about improving employees' competence in the use of these tools (training) and developing habits specific to remote working.

Automation of HR processes

The use of bots or artificial intelligence support in some activities is becoming an everyday occurrence. This example is particularly visible in large organizations. Automation is becoming the answer to painstaking analysis and the capture of undesirable trends and appropriate prevention. Automations can not only support HR departments in calculating holiday entitlement, bonus amounts, but also allow the creation of a compendium (in Workplace this is the Knowledge Library) where an employee can find all the necessary information. 

Managers

The transition to task-based working has also become a challenge for managers. The way in which on-site and distributed teams are managed differs significantly. There is the issue of optimizing the verification of progress and the execution of tasks themselves. Appropriate assignment of tasks is not only a simplification for employees, but will also make it easier for leaders to assess their performance. However, being accountable for assigned tasks does not absolve the manager from looking after the emotional wellbeing of employees. We need to be sensitive to any signals related to, for example, difficulty in completing tasks at home, fatigue from remote work, feelings of loneliness or isolation. 

Remote working and the challenges that HR departments face are constant changes. To help employees cope with change, HR needs to help them build trust with each other at all levels. Furthermore, the ability to use the latest technology to drive new ways of doing business is a major factor in the digital transformation of organisations. New software and digital technologies are constantly being developed and companies need to train employees to use them in order to stay relevant and maintain a competitive edge.

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