Across the globe, every workforce has been affected by the changing working conditions in a pandemic. Workers on the front lines face real physical health concerns, while remote workers face isolation that can lead to mental health challenges and burnout.
In response, organizations have learned how to cope and adapt to help their employees. According to a new report from the World Economic Forum, business leaders can care for the health and wellbeing of employees as we start the new year in the following ways.
Adapting to the expansion of remote work
The future of work has already arrived for a majority of the online white-collar workforce. Eighty-four percent of employers are set to rapidly digitalize working processes, including a significant expansion of remote work—with the potential to move 44% of their workforce to operate remotely. To address concerns about employee well-being, 34% of leaders report that they are taking steps to create a sense of community among employees online and also looking to tackle other challenges posed by the shift to remote work.[1]
Providing upskilling and technology mastery
Developing and enhancing human skills drives economic success, individual wellbeing and societal cohesion. That said, the past decade of technological advancement has also brought about the looming possibility of mass job displacement by technologies. What is needed is a revolution in education, and in continually training the workforce for transitions. The coming decade will require purposeful leadership to fulfill human potential, which leads to a confident and productive workforce.
Creating frameworks for human capital
Over time, a business may lose sight of just how valuable employees are to the organization, so the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum recommends creating a set of metrics and framework to track the value of human capital. A successful workforce investment strategy includes identifying workers being displaced from their roles, managing the displacement, funding reskilling and upskilling, motivating employee engagement in this process and tracking the long-term success of such transitions.
Ultimately, the World Economic Forum asserts that “no firm can prosper for long if it proves damaging to the social fabric around it.” In a time of extraordinary challenges, the success of a workforce is the success of the organization.
1.The Future of Jobs Report 2020, World Economic Forum