FFS…. the most used phrase in HR in 2020!

(for a couple of different reasons!)

So here we are, nearing the end of 2020 does anyone else think it went January, February, March, zoom, December?!  Where has the year gone?  Whether it has gone fast or slow for you there’s no doubt that in business and pleasure we’ve all been affected.

Over the course of 2020, many of us had those carefully laid people strategies torn up by the end of March and re-written, covering many areas that no one had thought would be on the agenda this soon.

So, whether you’ve lost parts of your business, grown, pivoted or started something fresh, sit back and read our HR round up for 2020.

It doesn’t cover all employment law changes (you can get them from Acas or gov. websites) but rather some of the practical changes and challenges that have affected employers over the course of 2020. 

Furlough.  Prior to about the 20th March that was a word that had not even come into my vocabulary yet today I often play bingo and see how many times its mentioned in a day!

With agreement, employers have been able to put employees on furlough leave and claim back from the government a percentage of wages if they met the criteria of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

Over the months the amounts and rules changed – in July moving to a flexible furlough scheme (FFS) where employers could ask employees to work part of their hours and still reclaim their pay from the government for the hours not worked.

This scheme is now due to be in place until March 2021.  Whether it will be extended again and/or be recognised as a term to use in future employment areas and references only time will tell.

Remote working.  It’ll never work…well, well, well!

How many times have I received a flexible working request, and the response has been “we can’t trust our employees to work at home, be productive and deliver results…. it’ll never work”

What do you know – it happened!!  When push comes to shove and we have no choice it’s been amazing to see how people have adapted and just got on with their jobs – and in many cases been more productive.

A lot of the aversion previously has been lack of trust or potentially (dare I say it!) poor management skills but in many businesses, this has been a real eye opener and I have heard

many stories of businesses now considering selling offices and downsizing as this remote working has so many benefits….

It hasn’t worked for everyone and some have hated homeworking.  I personally love to see people and know I bounce off others so I’m hoping that in the future there will be the flexibility and understanding that a hybrid approach is best.  Managers will need support to ensure this continues to be a success and businesses need to comply with H&S requirements but let’s watch this space. 

Along with remote working, more Flexible Working has also become the norm.  Gone is the standard 9-5 with many people juggling partners roles, home schooling and other caring duties whilst seeing the devastation of the virus so there has been a shift for many to enjoying a better work/life balance.

Forward thinking employers are understanding that if objectives are met, projects are delivered, and customers are happy there is no reason why employees can’t work hours to suit the family/home life.

With employees more engaged, motivated and satisfied employees from the above two approaches, I hope the approach continues when we go back to normality – providing the business can operate not to its detriment.

Employee Wellbeing has been bubbling away in the background for several years but this year the health of employees has become a priority.  Not physically seeing team members, understanding home working challenges and caring responsibilities (which may not have been discussed or even considered before) have come to the forefront of many a managers minds and with regular check ins, better communications, some delivering mental health awareness training and recognition and gifts being utilised and delivered in businesses to show thanks and support employees and employers have both benefitted.

There is still a long way to go but it has been great to start seeing businesses use the human approach when dealing with their employees.  Long may it continue.

Following on from above, many a job seeker will want to ensure that their next workplace fits with their values and goals and therefore Employer Branding and digital presence has become a key part of the people strategy.

Company websites have been updated and many businesses have taken the opportunity to update their glassdoor and indeed profiles to showcase their business, giving potential employees a real insight on how it might be working for their company.

This is an area that I believe will continue – according to Link Humans, around 78% of candidates will investigate a company’s reputation before applying for a job so make sure you’re on top of this for 2021.

An area I have been discussing with many of my businesses has been the Removal of Annual Appraisals and Replacing with Regular Check Ins.

Annual performance reviews are a formal, infrequent way to discuss employee performance. Often, they are time consuming and unproductive.  Sometimes, they even cause decreased employee engagement.   

Because of the frequency businesses have had to change over the last twelve months a more formal regular review has been discussed as being more effective and valuable.  It encourages agile working and ensures the business keeps at the top of its game with the ability to adapt to whatever is thrown at it.

There are many ways to do a formal, regular check in and this must be an approach that works for the business – not just a corporate exercise we think we should have but I like a regular check in and do think this is the way forward.

What a whirlwind!  With Brexit, the ongoing Coronavirus situation including the introduction of the vaccine (can we enforce our employees to have it), huge unemployment levels and the normal changes to employment law there will certainly still be a lot going on in the HR world in 2021. 

If there are any areas that you know you could or need to be better on and/or you want to discuss an affordable way of managing your HR in 2021 please give me a call.

Have a great Christmas and New Year and I look forward to seeing you in 2021.

Theresa Cooper, Managing Director, CooperativeHR Ltd, enabling business owners to do business, not HR.

www.cooperativehr.co.uk