Innovations in technology and non-traditional work arrangements were already transforming how human resources departments managed employees across an organization—and then the COVID-19 pandemic happened. Suddenly, the demands placed on these HR departments were thrown into hyperdrive, forcing dramatic changes to HR policies that have been taking place almost overnight.
In some cases, the rapid changes to company policies are an accelerated version of the innovations and growth businesses were targeting over a longer period of time. Companies looking to gradually embrace remote work have instead been forced to transition to a near-total remote work environment with few policies or procedures in place to govern this new arrangement. As a result, many of the top issues facing HR departments today are extreme versions of challenges they’ve already been preparing to face in the years to come.
Here’s a look at some of those top challenges, and how HR departments are trying to manage this change across their organizations.
Supporting Employee Health and Wellness
COVID-19 has forced HR departments to adopt policies that encourage and support employee health and wellness. This includes new policies, even if temporary, concerning sick leave availability in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. It can also include new safety protocols and guidance for workers who don’t have the luxury of working remotely, such as frontline healthcare workers and factory workers.
HR departments are facing increased pressure to support remote work arrangements, as well as leave of absences and other allowances, to give employees the flexibility they need to protect themselves and care for others while still balancing their job responsibilities.
Coordinating Employee Management Amid Fragmented Work Environments
HR plays an integral role in any business continuity plan being implemented in response to a pandemic. Managing remote workers is only part of this challenge: HR also needs to provide workers with the approved tools and platforms for collaborating on projects, communicating across multiple departments and teams, and managing internal assets.
These procedures should be outlined and updated in the company’s employee handbook and may require additional, on-the-go training for employees. HR departments in 2020 are scrambling to keep up with these changes and the handbook updates required for management across an organization—especially in cases where handbook updates must then be translated and pushed out across a global, multi-lingual enterprise.
Improving Communication Among All Types of Employees
HR needs effective channels to push out new policies and resources for remote workers, and it needs a communications infrastructure that supports collaboration while also ensuring any regulatory or privacy laws are followed in the transition to a new work setting.
For global companies, this infrastructure needs to include translation and/or interpreting services facilitating efficient communications from a corporate HR office down to every employee in the organization.
Enabling Faster Response to Organizational Change
The business landscape is changing fast. COVID-19 is an obvious disruptor to the business status quo, but speed and agility when implementing change can have a material effect on a company’s bottom line. When managing a global workforce, inefficient translation and interpreting can add days of unnecessary lag to HR’s ability to push out new policy changes and business updates across the company.
Streamlined translation services speed up the rate at which HR can manage change, resulting in more responsive HR management and better business continuity.
Managing a global workforce? Give your HR department the tools it needs to communicate new policies and procedures to your entire company. Contact Protranslating today to find out how we can support HR operations in 2020 and beyond.
