You may well have lost count of the number of days you have been in lockdown. As much of Ireland’s workforce adapts to the ‘new normal’ of a working from home routine, ‘technical difficulties’ are becoming increasingly obvious.
As the pandemic has swept the island of Ireland, many businesses have been forced to alter their operations, with workers given laptops and applications like Microsoft Teams, Zoom & Slack. Despite this investment, technology only works if your staff can get the full utilisation out of it. Worried about how to get the most out of your staff during lockdown? Here’s how your HR team to best communicate any technological changes during this period and how to get the most out of this new technology.
 
Staff Challenges with Technology
Until only a few weeks ago, much of the Irish workforce had never even considered working from home before. Perhaps many thought it simply wasn’t possible. Nonetheless, your colleagues have been given the challenge of learning the discipline of working daily from home, and with this, adapting to the new technologies enabling this.
Whether this takes the form of live chat features, video calls through to using workplace programmes remotely, many of your colleagues may feel daunted by this.
It's important to understand these issues and understand how colleagues of all ages may feel overwhelmed by this new way of working coupled with the challenges that the current environment also presents.
With an abundance of ages, cultures and creeds, your staff and their experiences of this type of working may be very different. To get the most out of your staff during this period, it is paramount that they can maximise the capability of the technology brought to them.
 
Maximising Technology’s Capability
1.     Engage staff from the beginning
Picking the right technology can be a difficult task. You need to find what will work for your operations and your staff, as well as your business’ purse.
Engaging staff in these challenges and adaptions from the beginning will make all the difference. Use your HR team to chat with colleagues, understand their daily tasks within their job roles and what they would like to see or use during their time under lockdown. Perhaps they have used a certain application or brand in a previous workplace or personally; certain operations might require certain applications that are a must-have to work efficiently remotely.
Speaking with colleagues before you invest & make decisions will help your performance during this stressful period and make it easier for staff to adapt this new working from home culture.
2.     Provide the right resources
After speaking with colleagues and considering what you, as a business, needs, you should be in the perfect position to provide the right resources.
Training programmes that can be delivered remotely on these new technologies and applications will ensure staff are clear on what work you expect to be delivered. This will ensure they know how and when to use new applications, and maximise the potential for your business.
Sometimes too much information is just that – too much. It is easy to throw every resource or bud of information that you may feel be useful to some colleagues, but this can easily overwhelm. Remember – for many of your colleagues, this could be the first time that they have attempted to work from home. Amidst children who may be off school, caring duties for older dependents or partners who are simply off for the day, your colleagues will face many distractions and challenges during this ‘new normal’. Ensure you ping the right resource, not every resource, to your colleagues.
3.     Monitor & Review
Lastly, there’s always room for improvement. To measure this, ensure you are continually monitoring. Whether this is through your own department or through your management team, continue to gather feedback from colleagues. Check out what is and what isn’t working, what you are getting from these new technologies and applications, and what could be maximised further in order to get what you have invested in.
Reviewing your new work from home practices will help set up a future model for your business which may aid change in the aftermath of this pandemic. Most importantly, reviewing these practices can greatly improve the short-term results for your business and your customers or clients, ensuring present day performance isn’t hindered by our present-day pandemic.edit.

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While this period of redundancy and lay-offs may be hard to manage as a business, it’s likely the aftermath may be just as challenging. For those staff lucky to keep their jobs, they may feel threatened of further risk in the future. They may feel guilty that they have been able to stay on while fellow colleagues have not, resulting in negativity towards your business.

Your HR team can act as a catalyst to boost staff morale in such incidence as this. As they say, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’ and neither can your business’ reputation be rebuilt as quickly. Leveraging the skills and talent of your HR team is crucial. Here’s why:
 
Loss of Loyalty

Periods of job loss can be a tough road to navigate. With different policies for different types of workers, legalities and a host of other related issues, it can be hard to keep focus on what matters – your staff. Regardless of their situation, they should always be at the forefront of any decisions.

Often, job loss can leave existing colleagues anxious for their own future. This can impact not only on their morale but in their long-term loyalty towards your business. With fears for the jobs in the future, many of your staff may begin looking elsewhere for a job with better prospects.

Maximise the potential of your HR team by ensuring that communication to all staff about these changes is a top priority. Explain fully why any redundancies are made and if you intend to keep certain staff on, communicate this to them. This will avoid any unnecessary anxiety amongst colleagues, keeping them onside and loyal towards your plan for your organisation in the future. While you may have been forced to lose valuable skills and talent due to financial constraints, this doesn’t mean that you can’t retain the talent that you have left; boosting staff morale by communicating all changes to your business will maximise loyalty and your future talent retention.
 
Rebuilding Your Reputation

It might take a decade to build a reputation in business, but a period of job loss can wipe this away, harming the perception of your organisation both internally and externally. Internally, your existing staff may distrust your plans for the future, feel guilty to those colleagues who have lost their jobs, impacting on their capacity to remain loyal to you. But your HR team can help with that.

Facilitate one-to-ones and focus groups of staff where you, as a business, can personally thank them for their loyalty towards your organisation, while listening to their concerns over any recent job losses. Ask your staff questions about how they feel regarding the situation, and where they would like to see change. But remember: don’t just ask, listen! It is all well and good leveraging your HR staff to organise these discussions, but if you don’t listen, you can’t act on any feedback.

Without action, your reputation will remain poor and you may struggle to retain talent and keep staff onside. It may be a challenge but your HR team are here to help.
 
Keeping ‘Human’ at the Heart of Business

The clue is in the name – Human Resources. Job loss, financial insecurity, stress – these are all issues that can challenge staff – your humans!

Your HR team and their skills have the potential to make a lasting difference to your business in the aftermath of job loss. Keep human and personal to your staff by facilitating discussions, using feedback and communicating effectively why you have had to make cuts, how this will help your business and your staff in the future, and what you need from your colleagues within your organisation.

We are all people at the end of the day, and your people will appreciate your efforts as a business to remain personable and approachable during any period of job loss.