Navigating Remote Work: Which HR Tasks Should Take Priority During COVID-19 Lockdown?

Hi, I am working for a small IT company. The total size of the manpower is only 22. All employees are working from home due to the current coronavirus situation. Management requires a daily work report from everyone to demonstrate visibility and productivity. Given this scenario, as an HR professional, how can I ensure a daily work report since HR tasks are primarily qualitative? Could anyone suggest which HR functions I should prioritize during this remote working period?

Hi Partner, there are many things that can be continued during the home period. However, before you start anything, it is better to first check with your management to see if there is anything they expect HR to prioritize during this period. Only if they are unsure should you proceed with your ideas.

My start as an HR generalist

My start as an HR generalist was with a BTL marketing firm of only 16 members at the location. Most of my time was spent on recruitment due to high attrition, followed by attendance, leaves, performance management, and exits.

In my free time, I worked on creating employee files containing details from their candidature applications, resumes, appointment letters, appraisal forms and ratings, leave records, awards, warning letters, relieving letters, etc. With hard copies stored in files, I then entered the details into the system for each employee, creating a profile. Even with only 16 employees, this was a never-ending job due to the attrition level, and the management was satisfied as each file provided a lot of data about each employee.

Working from home

While working from home, I am unsure how much employee record access you may have. However, if possible, this could be an area you can focus on as it opens the door for the application of data and predictive analytics in the future.

Hi Dear,

Thanks for your reply. Actually, I know my management will reply to me to create my own work. This is the critical area that I am facing. From home, it is quite difficult to create and access personal files. That is why I was looking for some more suggestions/insights from all. How are others maintaining their daily work schedule?

Hi,

My problem is also the same. I have 5 years of experience in HR. The total strength of my company is 20. Apart from payroll, I do all other work, but now, as we are working from home, compared to other department people, my workload is less. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic situation, recruitment activities are frozen, so I can't even engage in recruitment, which is a major part of HR. Please suggest how I can stay productive during WFH.

Creating a Performance Management Model

This means that it is time to start investing in creating a performance management model with the help of project managers and team leaders.

With company revenues having been hit hard, there is a chance that the company may want to trim down costs and ensure maximum employee utilization or consider options to reduce headcount.

If you are currently working from home, you can use this opportunity to reach out to managers via calls and emails with questionnaires on the critical areas of their work process. Ask them about the performance criteria they prefer for resources on the job.

From the inputs you gather from various managers, you can analyze these to create a trendline or model of what different process managers consider as critical areas and what performance criteria and benchmarks they prefer.

Parameters to Consider

The parameters can include skill sets, abilities, attitudes, etc. You can also note the current resource-related challenges that managers face.

Engaging with Executive Employees

After gathering all the necessary inputs and data on managerial expectations, your next step would be to reach out to executive employees. Have discussions with them about how they feel regarding their work, expectations, and their perceptions of their work.

This will ultimately provide details on the gap between the perceptions of managers and their reportees. These gaps often lead to process and revenue issues for the organization.

When you submit reports to management on your findings, they will find these inputs useful because they are first-hand insights taken directly from employees.

The process is a long one, but it is definitely something you can accomplish from home.

How an HR Person Can Work from Home

HR is indeed a vast field, and HR personnel are always busy with tasks such as attendance, salary, grievance redressal, etc. However, we now have the opportunity to expand our job responsibilities. Here are some suggestions:

1) Designing various forms/formats to be updated in personal files.
2) Reviewing and updating Appointment Letters/Confirmation Letters/Transfer Letters.
3) Reviewing the company's existing HR policies, designing new policies, and updating existing HR policies.
4) Making amendments to labor laws if necessary and implementing them.
5) Designing/reviewing KRAs of employees.

In addition to these extra tasks, as an HR professional, you can design and introduce daily/weekly/monthly performance evaluations for all your employees working from home. By reviewing KRAs and distributing work among employees, your management may approve this approach. You can continue these regular tasks while working from home because the priority now is to ensure the company's work is completed consistently and evaluate employee performance while they work remotely.

HR can play a significant role in monitoring the daily/regular work performance of employees.

Regards,
SONIYA BHARDWAJ

Nice to know various views on the HR role during Work From Home. I feel Soniyaji has covered most of the points as I do as GM-Training and HR. In addition, you can do the following:

1. We have an attendance system through Teams Software. It's easy to download and safe to use by all team members. Thus, you can keep track of each one.

2. Conduct capacity-building sessions internally. Based on the team's performance over the last 6 months, identify topics they need to develop and ask them to prepare a PowerPoint presentation and present it in a group via Teams software. Seniors can guide them, and others can raise questions through chat. It's an excellent way of learning.

Thanks and Regards,
Devashree N