It was agreed that this will require focus on people, planning and profit – Covid-19 has raised reactionary themes from private business in response to the lockdown in the following order:
From a human resources and employee relations perspective, this requires a change in strategy. Employers are urgently required to create operating procedures that address capabilities to manage change. Structures and terms need to urgently consider change, risk and emergency management. This in turn informs how we deal with people, planning and profit.
In order to truly give effect to this great reset, an apt term coined by the speakers, we need to effect the following:
For an employment lawyer, these are critical components to the employment relationship, without which the continuity is rendered intolerable. Employees will return with the knowledge of the employer’s capacity and appetite to work remotely. The expectation will be for this to continue post-lockdown.
We need to instil in managers the skills to manage remote workers, adopt and adapt the platforms for remote work and look at the tools of the trade to support remote work.
It is clear that reduced consumer spend would adversely impact the employer’s business. Lost opportunities need to be identified and reconciled on the books of account. This impacts how the employer invests in its people and its strategy. A critical point is that employers need to adopt the best fit for their business rather than the best market practice. This requires an “outside in” approach. Organisations need to look at extraneous factors including market conditions and adopt what could work to build an employee value proposition.
Some key indicators are as follows:
The above can only deal with salaried employees and once their buy-in is secured to the ‘great reset’ in this new normal, employers can consider some possibilities:
The issue is also how to deal with waged employees – the employees who provide labour by manning machines and equipment in manufacturing, mining, construction and automotive sectors. If automation is adopted, it will likely result in a redundancy of these employees. This is a simplistic answer and may happen over time. Employers can also look to outsourced models - functional outsourcing and procurement of products alone. At this juncture they need to commit to reskilling or upskilling waged employees to protect the economy.
There are tough times ahead but everyone can work together with employees and organised labour through and beyond the crisis.