IT & HR: A Team Collaboration Like Never Before

With the workplace landscape shifting by the day, supporting business and the people who help build it, is key. Only a few months ago, work-life changed suddenly when the pandemic hit. Everyone was asked to stay put until the situation could be figured out. Organisations declared a work from home and in a matter of days employees were in their home-offices, attending to their task lists with virtual meeting rooms and communication platforms; or in other words, with high dependence on technology. This smooth transition was possible, because the IT and HR teams joined forces. If this kind of a collaborative effort can make such a big difference during a crisis, then only imagine what it could do otherwise.

Thought-Provoking Pandemic Trends

Recent studies have shown that almost 70 % of employees say that their productivity levels are no different from when they were in office. With figures that are more encouraging than ever, organisations have a lot to learn from what their employees are thinking. Are they ​keen on coming back to office? Do they feel more comfortable and productive as they work from home or continue working remotely? These are some of the many things organisations need to consider as internal communication tools and employee engagement are scaled up.

Thinking For Every Employee

Many things affect an employee’s productivity. Work motivation, salary, teams, job role, interpersonal relationships at the office and a lot more. Another major factor which contributes to this, whether consciously or subconsciously, is infrastructure. Office space, devices to work on, seamless and reliable internet connection, all equally contribute towards glitch-free remote working.

During the pandemic, the sudden work from home routine overwhelmed most employees. While some got used to it, many others still aren’t comfortable with the blurred lines between work and personal life. Working remotely has enabled employees to work anytime and from anywhere, with technology at its behest. At the same time, working longer hours has been a growing concern due to the fact that people tend to always be available. With a strong video-conference system, businesses are banking on it to enable important discussions and presentations. However, some employees are siting video conference fatigue while some others terribly miss meeting their colleagues and face to face chats.

IT & HR Collaboration – A Seamless Work Experiences

Each employee is different and streamlining processes for the benefit of all will require the IT and the HR teams to work together, closely. This can begin by getting to know how either team functions; HR teams by understanding how digital tools work and its impact on employees, while IT teams can leverage HR insights into building better solutions.

With the right mix, policies that encourage work-life balance can be brought into place.

Simplifying administrative tasks like scheduling emails or silencing notifications can help set work boundaries over the weekends. These are just some of the practices that can be driven depending on what employees want. On a larger scale with employee well-being as a growing concern, mental health workshops should be arranged with both teams collaborating. Parallelly, ensuring that corporate security is being taken care of amidst all this too is imperative.

The Future Workplace

COVID-19 did disrupt everyday work-life, but also created room to think for the emerging reality. With the help of internal communication tools, organisations can open conversations to ensure work life balance. Translate these learnings into thought-led processes to determine growth and the happiness quotient of employees in the post pandemic era.

People First to Deliver Customer First

There is a talk in the boardroom. One that is often argued and championed by many people. One that we’ve heard and even tried to answer a number of times. What comes first? Is it business goals or people? Is it customer first or compliance? Should people initiatives run at a time when business is slow? What should the overall approach to talent initiatives be?

While every company has to fend for itself when it comes to these questions, there is no right or wrong. There is but an approach. 

It’s one we like to call the PFCF ideology or the People [First] to Deliver Customer [First].

While talent consulting experts will fight for people first and business leads might champion customer first, it’s not that simple. In fact, it’s more of a catch 22 situation. Should you invest in a slow performer or should you simply ask them to leave? Should you only reward people at the top while the average ones, the ones that really push the company forward remain anonymous?

Research proves that happy and engaged employees are productive, stay on longer and also, move on to become brand advocates. By imbibing the people first culture, the work culture changes to become more interactive. Employee engagement increases, and the company culture goes on to become employer branding.

After all, you take care of people and they will take care of work! Or so you would want to believe! The fact is that not everyone is driven by the same sense of purpose. Also, often what management wants to percolate is not how others see it simply because they are unclear about what their role is in the bigger picture.

So when it comes to adopting an approach to employee engagement or taking important decisions, we believe in People First to Deliver Customer First. If you don’t take care of your people, they won’t take care of business. If there is no business, you won’t need or have a workforce.

The way we see it: when you launch an initiative, remember that programs that follow the logic of keeping the employee at the heart of the desired customer impact are bound to work better in the marketplace. That way, you’ll be better prepared. Talent consulting experts point out that the people first policy boosts the overall productivity of employees and make them feel valued. Let your people take care of your customers while you take care of what matters to them. But not at the cost of Business. Not at the cost of your People.

Why Workplace Diversity & Inclusion is More than a Business Trend

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear ‘workplace diversity’? Surely, an image of an office with employees from different ethnicity or genders working together comes to the mind. But today, diversity at the workplace encompasses different political, social, religious beliefs, socioeconomic backgrounds, disabilities and even sexual orientation.

Companies all over the world are moving towards a more diverse and inclusive workforce, having realized that taking care of their people is more important than chasing numbers but Singapore is yet to catch up. According to a poll conducted by Kantar, Singapore is the second-worst performing nation on workplace diversity and inclusion practices out of the 14 developed countries included in the poll! A multinational company that is a purveyor of D&I practices is Accenture, which topped the Refinitiv Global Diversity & Inclusion Index. When a Fortune 500 company positions itself as the leader in the best employee practices, it sets a great example for other organizations to follow and inadvertently becomes even more attractive to the shareholders as well as the current and the future employees.

Singapore’s population is a mix of Chinese, Malays, Indians and others. People speak varied languages and practice different religions, making Singapore a multicultural and multi-ethnic city-state in its truest sense. This is precisely the reason companies have a lot of scope of attracting and retaining the diverse working population residing here. And they can do so by having inclusive work policies to provide a better work environment to their most precious resource that is the employees. But, more often than not, in a bid to improve their bottom line, companies underrate the importance of workplace diversity and inclusion and are completely ignorant of the intangible advantages that it brings. So, how exactly does being diverse and inclusive benefit everyone?

Growth for all

Along with unique perspectives, employees bring with them their life experiences as well as different skills and talent. A heterogeneous workforce builds a conducive environment for employees to learn from and with each other too. The coming together of vastly different thinking styles and viewpoints helps solve problems faster. Naturally, this phenomenon drives creativity and innovation at work. Dynamic markets define this fast-paced business world, and without adaptability and flexibility, companies are bound to crash. A varied workforce brings with itself, diverse perspectives that help you make effective decisions and most importantly helps you be on your toes. Imagine, being able to choose from a spectrum of solutions for a business or an organizational problem!

Can we expect people from the same background or culture to think vastly different from each other? Having a homogeneous workforce may have its benefits, but in the long run, it will turn on its head and the stagnancy that can grow from such a close-knit culture is detrimental for the growth of any organization. Risk-taking and innovation are the key drivers of business expansion and development and having a diverse workforce opens up a world of new ideas, which when channeled correctly can take your company to newer heights.

More engagement, More retention

Employees work best when they are at ease and in their element and having an inclusive environment lets people be themselves, leading to better performance at the workplace. The pantry may be is stocked and comes with an unlimited supply of coffee. But, all such external efforts will fall short if intrinsically, people are uncomfortable in their work environment. That’s why, Just hiring diversely isn’t enough, think of what happens when those hires begin working at your company. If they feel alienated, motivations will go out the window, performances will drop and it may even lead them to quit.

The recruitment process right from hiring to on-boarding, takes up resources and high employee turnover is something companies cannot afford, which is why companies need to keep their employees engaged. It’s ingrained in us to want to be valued and when employees feel heard and understood, they are more likely to feel respected and valued. Inculcating an inclusive work culture can make them feel belonged, which will positively impact their quality of life at work. They then will also be more likely to be motivated and engaged leading them to be more productive and less likely to jump ships.

Although global companies in Singapore have woken up to to the advantages of D&I practices, local organizations need to follow suit. As an HR manager, it is in your best interest to provide a work environment where an employee actually wants to come to work every day to give in their best and measures like workplace policies that have been formed to accommodate a diverse workplace can be the first step to achieve it.