What will future of work mean for hiring?

The beginning is the end and the end is the new beginning

As HR, the immediate question that struck me during the early stages of a pandemic is What will the future of work mean for hiring?

These are the times where we need to unlearn our deeply rooted process and learn to be unconventional.

Despite the panic and uncertainty, the economy is holding up and companies are trying to function and work towards their goals.

Here are a few challenges companies are facing and some tips to turn them into opportunity:

Uncertainty in the business climate

Almost every industry has been affected in a way or another, the business has been on halt. Everyone is trying to cut their expenses as much as they can. With the trouble in paradise, everyone is in a state of confusion if it is wise to hire new people, or is it safe to run the trade with existing ones.

This is the time when the client and company need to be on the same page, create a road map that drives the core values and goals of both parties, compare the pros and cons of taking in new employees. The strength of any relationship is known during the hardest times. With proper planning and empathy, together customers and companies can emerge stronger.

Finding potential candidates

We are in midst of global crisis; priorities are changing as the pandemic certainly created a panic mania where people are ready to come in terms of living with basic commodities. So, in times like these, stability in the job supersedes higher pay and higher risk.

As much as an employee wants to play safely in the current scenario, they are also looking for a company that shares their same values. Remote working has opened door to a new work style of workfromanywhere. In a way, this increases the probability of finding the right candidate literally from anywhere around the world which makes a recruiter job smart and easy. Mighty giants like Siemens are permanently adapting to the new work culture of workfromanywhere.
Well, here is where the company’s branding and reliability in the market come as saviors. It is said, “When people use your brand name as a verb, that is remarkable”. Employerbranding is a mirror that reflects the company’s identity and values which helps the prospective employees to choose them. This branding not only lands future talent but also helps in retaining the existing talent.

Digitalization of Recruitment

It is said that change affects our life, scratch that this pandemic has turned our lives upside down. It upturned the way we work and coordinate with people. The days of blocking the meeting rooms, giving a physical tour to the candidate, interacting with the interviewer, and casual talks are a thing of the past now. To get along with our business without a glitch, we must digitalize our hiring process completely.

Starting from sharing the resume, scheduling the interviews, taking the feedback, preparing digitalized appointment letters, etc everything needs to be moved online. We need to prepare a blueprint of the recruitment process end to end, study, and point the areas that need to be digitalized.
Based on the size of hiring, recruitment tools need to be used to support us along. Although hiring portals like Naukri are trustable, there are many other software tools like Application tracking system (ATS), Gamification, etc.
As a remote running company, we must rely on video conferencing tools to run meetings, interviews, and check-in with each other. It is vital to use high quality and fast apps to have unhindered working experience. Though Skype is an old friend, coMakeIT Microsoft teams have proved to be helpful in giving us the best virtual experience. There are plenty of others like Google meet, Zoom, GOTO meeting, etc to make our work easier.

Two strokes are used to write crises, one stroke is for danger, and another is for an opportunity.

In a way, this is an opportunity for quick-witted recruiters. Whoever is swift, innovative, and have out of the box thinking emerge as winners beating the catastrophe.

Investment in new ways of Hiring

In a recent interaction with my HR associates, one hurdle all has been facing is a reduction in recruitment budget. With everyone being cautious and playing safe, no one wants to invest in huge numbers based on the uncertainties, this might result in compromising on high-quality candidates.

Sometimes when we look at the same thing from a different angle, we will see an entirely different result. Companies need to start looking for candidates who can onboard immediately which reduces risk, cost, and time for the customer.
Another smart way to partly handle the difficulty is hiring in-house resources. Training the employees who have might fitment issues in their current team helps in retention and solves the costing issue.

Preserving valuable resources

Staffing retention has never been so crucial. Apart from creating redundancy in new opportunities, the current scenario has also hiked the possibilities for new job roles. Which makes safeguarding their employees an important mission for an organization.

Employee Engagement

Paying a full salary is not enough, we must make sure of the employee’s wellbeing. As a company, we are vivid proof of how employee engagement and CSR activities to bond employees. Caring and looking after one another keeps not just our physical health but also emotional health in a good state.

Few activities that we conducted to stay together by staying apart.

Mental health awareness session
Lockdowndiaries
FunFridays like playing online Tambola
Radiostation – Voice of coMakeIT

Consistent Connection

Communication from leaders is the most crucial step to give assurance to the employees. Company leaders need to give confidence that we are all in this together and will get over the hard times. This can be done by sharing regular information about the company’s goals, new achievements, general motivational emails, etc.

It is man’s nature to imagine the worst outcomes when things are not well communicated. So, we must be in regular touch to keep this positive momentum going. Townhall is one such platform that has always helped in connecting the entire company. Regular sessions on knowledge sharing also help others to be in par with the current trends.

Token of appreciation

A person who feels appreciated will always do more than expected. No doubt pay is always important but never underrate a well-done mail or a simple great work message. These are part of engaging the employees and these small words play a big role later in employees’ satisfaction and even retention.

And no one is ever too old to feel content by a Thank You

After all, every beginner needs to come to an end and every end will have a new beginning. And we humans shall evolve stronger each time.