Seven trends on how the pandemic can affect corporate human resources and the career plans of managers and employees.
When it comes to change, HR professionals like to speak of a change process. Seen in this way, the corona pandemic is probably the largest organizational experiment of all time. It’s not just a stress test for business, it’s also a blueprint for the world of work. What the virus has imposed on us will have a long-term impact on jobs, professional life, and even our careers.
For Nicole Mai, a consultant at Russell Reynolds, “2020 will go down in history because it will have a significant impact on the way we will work together in the future.” Walter Jochmann, Managing Director of the management consultancy Kienbaum, sees the “drama After the crisis, an unprecedented momentum for HR departments that will trigger groundbreaking changes ”.
But how exactly can the pandemic change the world of work and HR work? The Handelsblatt went through studies, spoke to experts and executives – and identified seven trends.
Trend 1: Re-rationalization of women’s careers
The fathers go to work, the mothers stay at home and look after the children. What looks like a role model from a bygone era is more topical than ever thanks to the pandemic.
Because daycare centers and schools were closed and regular operation is not yet in sight, many children have to be looked after and taught at home. And for this, women in particular have reduced their working hours, shows a study by the Institute for Economic and Social Sciences (WSI) of the union-related Hans Böckler Foundation.
For example, 27 percent of the mothers surveyed with children under the age of 14 worked less, compared with only 16 percent of men. “Even with couples who previously shared the work, women are now increasingly taking on the care work,” says WSI Director Bettina Kohlrausch.
According to the study, this is especially true for families with lower incomes. Because poor families in particular cannot afford it if the man works less. After all, the male gender earns on average a fifth more than the female.
For the Berlin sociologist Jutta Allmendinger this is a horrific development, women would “definitely lose three decades”, she recently announced in a talk show. And so the pandemic is causing a re-traditionalization of the image of women – which further complicates the already unequal opportunities for women in the world of work.
“In times of crisis, people can fall back into an earlier management style, where a word of power is sometimes spoken in order to seemingly come to a decision quickly,” observes Russell Reynolds consultant Immo Futterlieb. A style that is more likely to be attributed to male managers.
Futterlieb’s colleague Mai adds: “In the future, we will need even more strength from everyone involved in order to implement the undisputed advantages of diversity in management.”
It was mainly women who carried society through the crisis because the proportion of women in hospitals, pharmacies and supermarkets is particularly high – and yet they do not seem to benefit from it.
Trend 2: Breakthrough in mobile work
Sometimes working in the home office, sometimes in the office – this is nothing new for manager Masa Schmidt. After all, your employer Microsoft introduced the trust-based workplace years ago – like many companies in the IT industry.
But for most of them, working from home was a completely new situation during the crisis. Just twelve percent worked from home before Corona, according to estimates by the University of Mannheim, the proportion has more than doubled to 25 percent due to the pandemic.
A trend that, according to Inga Dransfeld-Haase, President of the Federal Association of Personnel Managers (BPM), will continue. The crisis forced companies to conduct a major home office test.
“Everyone, from the works council to the supervisory board, has made a very steep learning curve.” Even the companies that have been critical of home work have been taught better.
And so video meetings and telecommunications will in future be part of everyday work as well as lunch in the canteen. Employees will have the freedom to work from home or come to the office from time to time.
However , Dransfeld-Haase rejects a legally anchored right to work from home , which Labor Minister Hubertus Heil brought into play, with reference to the additional bureaucracy: “If companies want to attract top talent, they can no longer have a pure presence culture after the crisis at the latest Afford.”
Trend 3: A new management culture is required
With the breakthrough in mobile work, managers also have to adapt. “They have to learn to guide their employees far more precisely and to deal more carefully with their fears and needs,” says adviser Futterlieb.
And managers need to trust their employees more. “Trust is the new control” is written on the sticker on Microsoft manager Schmidt’s laptop for a reason. Schmidt often doesn’t know whether her colleagues are writing emails or relaxing on the balcony. “To be honest, I don’t care either,” it would be noticed at the next employee interview anyway.
Surrendering control and building trust – what Schmidt says with ease is still difficult for many managers. And it is also not that easy to manage remotely: praise more often, take time for one-on-one discussions, communicate more clearly – these are just some of the new tasks.
Trend 4: Digital recruiting is becoming more important
A webcam interview? That was the exception before the crisis. But the pandemic has forced companies to digitize their application processes. Although many companies have a hiring freeze, those who are currently hiring face major challenges, as a joint survey by the Stepstone job platform and BPM shows.
Result: A good every second recruiter noticed during the crisis that they lacked know-how and experience in digital application processes. However, the experiences of the past few weeks are likely to have been valuable; 56 percent of those surveyed expect that they will soon be recruiting applicants more frequently using virtual channels.
“Corona has left the HR departments no choice but to deal with digital recruitment in greater depth ,” says BPM President Dransfeld-Haase. And so in the future applicants will have to prepare for a virtual interview at least during the initial interview. It is more difficult for job seekers to convince via webcam, and HR managers cannot get to know the candidates as thoroughly as at a real meeting – but the webcam variant also has advantages: applicants save their journey, companies save travel costs.
For the final interviews, most companies should continue to rely on getting to know each other personally – if it is possible again.
Even starting a job had to be virtual in many places during the crisis. A novelty for most companies, a survey by the e-recruiting provider Softgarden suggests. According to this, 70 percent of the companies surveyed have no experience with so-called virtual onboarding .
So also for Adidas. The sporting goods manufacturer employed several dozen people during the crisis. The newcomers can only get to know their colleagues through video conferencing. Somehow it works, but HR manager Georg Fuchs longs for earlier times. “Nothing can replace the personal impression for building relationships.” And so the pandemic will further digitize the recruitment process – but personal meetings will also be indispensable in the future working world, especially for job interviews and when starting a job.
Trend 5: Pampering talent
Employee health has not been a top priority for most companies. However, due to Corona, the priorities have shifted: The new mantra: Health is important!
“In the current pandemic, the importance of occupational health and safety is brought to our eyes almost every day, sometimes dramatically,” says Karlheinz Sonntag, Professor of Work and Organizational Psychologist at the University of Heidelberg. The expert expects that companies will pay more attention to the design of working conditions, currently also for home offices:
The dynamic environment caused by digitization and demographic change significantly increased the need to “maintain the health, well-being and performance of employees”.
The futurologist Sven Gabor Janszky expects many discussions in the coming months on the subject of health checks and apps, with which companies could develop a new understanding of solidarity among the workforce. To be checked in order not to endanger colleagues, for example, to be regulated via a health barrier at the entrance to the company. “Technically it is feasible.”
In the future, the company will not only take care of the health of its employees, but will “support the entire private and professional life of its employees,” says Kienbaum consultant Jochmann. “The feel-good management of the workforce has been ridiculed by many companies in recent years – but Corona has made it more important than ever.” Companies in Silicon Valley are already taking care of their employees in an almost touching way.
Companies there would support new employees in looking for accommodation, finance travel by public transport, help finance childcare, book coaches for private and professional matters, order healthy food for the canteen, offer cooperation with fitness studios, and maintain a hairdressing salon on the company premises, organize the technical equipment in the home office or provide an app in which all salary questions and contact persons are intuitively stored – for all employees.
Kienbaum believes that the trend of the welfare company will spill over the Atlantic because it is becoming increasingly difficult for companies to keep good people – and that will also apply after the end of the pandemic.
Trend 6: Purpose instead of panic
It is a term that fills entire shelves of advice: “Purpose” – which means something like “purpose” or “determination” in German. In times when companies are working out the details of the letters of resignation, this does not seem to be an important topic for the HR departments at first glance.
And yet, says BPM President Dransfeld-Haase, it is more important than ever for companies in the pandemic to have a purpose.
“If employees know why they are doing something and what they are there for, then that gives them stability and orientation, especially in times of crisis, and prevents them from panicking.” Companies that do not yet have a formulated purpose or that do not have the topic What is important, especially in times of short-time work and threatened layoffs, would notice that their workforce is falling apart, according to Dransfeld-Haase, who is HR manager at the sugar producer Nordzucker.
And so the crisis is likely to ensure that more and more companies establish a determination. Because “in companies that have a clear self-image, the employees would make suggestions for innovations even in the crisis, and they are more willing to re-qualify”.
Even after the crisis, the experts agree that top talents in particular want to go home with the feeling that they have done something useful. The company also benefits from this. Because those who manage to give their employees the feeling every day that they are pursuing a higher purpose with their work get employees who are more committed and possibly at a lower salary. That should please the chief financial officers of the companies – and not only in the crisis.
Trend 7: The eco image is becoming decisive
Since almost all planes have stayed on the ground, many companies have found that virtual business meetings are sometimes more efficient than when managers have previously traveled halfway around the globe. Experts expect the crisis to further intensify companies’ environmental efforts. 90 percent want to check the necessity of company trips more carefully in the future, a survey by the Association of German Travel Management (VDR) among its member companies shows. Six out of ten companies can imagine arriving more frequently by car and train for domestic appointments.
Experience that also adviser Futterlieb makes. “In discussions with my clients, I have the feeling that there will soon be more reconsiderations as to whether it really has to be a flight or whether the issue cannot also be clarified via video conference.” used to holding virtual meetings, according to Futterlieb. With all green efforts: The company also saves money if it puts its manager in front of the screen and does not have to book business class tickets.
Even before the crisis, Germany’s companies were particularly sustainable and tried to ensure their ethical responsibility in a media-effective manner. Only a few DAX companies have an elaborated green personnel strategy. That should change after the crisis, says consultant Mai. “Sustainable business is becoming more and more important, because the pressure from society and politics is growing – and with it from investors.”
What’s more: the companies’ eco-measures are an increasingly important marketing tool when looking for personnel and help to keep and motivate younger employees in particular. Because for them, a study by the management consultancy McKinsey shows, a sustainable employer is even more important than a high salary when choosing a career.
And that is unlikely to be an option in every company after the crisis.
