A poll of 200 senior HR professionals - conducted by Howden Employee Benefits and Wellbeing - found that 64 per cent are expecting remote working to increase their workload, but experts advise that people professionals cannot be ‘all things to all people’ and should take care of their own wellbeing.
Approximately two-fifths - 39 per cent - of respondents stated that their organisations planned to offer partial home working to all workers. Almost half - 46 per cent - said they would offer home working to some employees and another 3 per cent said that their firm would move to an entirely home-based working model. The findings suggested that nearly nine out of ten organisations intended to introduce at least some telecommuting.
The poll also found that half of employees would quit without flexible working post-pandemic.
Gemma Bullivant - HR coach and consultant - stated that any management changes needed to move to remote working would, at least temporarily, increase the workload for HR teams.
She said:
“Where pain will be felt most acutely is in organisations that don’t take the strategic decisions early so that infrastructure can be put in place”.
She added the suggestion that HR practitioners “might need to put pressure on other senior leaders” to decide the approach that would ensure the workload is contained and invested in the right areas.
However, Gemma Dale - Lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University - questioned why HR professionals assumed remote working would increase their workload.
She said:
“While working in a hybrid or remote way does change the way we do things, I see no reason why this should mean workload will increase in the longer-term and stay increased.”
She added that adopting remote working - although requiring human resources to adapt - “could indicate we have something wrong in the way we approach remote working” if the workload was increased.
After over a year or so of restrictions, it is no surprise that employers and employees have both become accustomed to the idea of working from home and both have come to understand the benefits. From the employers’ perspective, the benefits of continuing to work from home include cost saving; an increase in engagement; increased productivity and increased employee well-being - but 44 per cent of respondents were uncertain whether their current benefits package fully supported their staff to work at home.
Steve Herbert - Howden Head of Benefits Strategy - stated:
“We strongly encourage more employers to adopt flexible benefits, digital communications and delivery methods to better support the growing numbers of remote workers in the 2020s. Pandemics are likely to represent the moment of the watershed of employment and Howden calls on HR professionals to ensure that company sponsored employee benefits offerings reflect this significant change in labour practices.”
Ngozi Weller - Director at Aurora Wellness - stated that employers should encourage staff to seek help if their workloads increased.
She added:
“The age of the ‘HR superhero’ has to stop, because HR cannot be all things to all people - take on whatever tasks are thrown at it and work increasingly long hours…HR teams have the right to a reasonable work-life balance and should get help from external contractors if they need it.”
