The way we work has changed. The role of the HR professional has changed with it, as HR and other departments absorb and adjust to the impact that COVID-19 has had on our workforce. AHRI's survey series articulates how HR has evolved, how workforces have been impacted and importantly, what the future holds for all HR professionals.
The results contained in AHRI's Skills for a post-pandemic future Pulse Report 4, October 2020 are once again very interesting. The latest HR Pulse survey concentrates on the skillsets that we will need post-pandemic for our organisations to recover, the assumptions about HR's influence on the C-suite, and whether organisations are actually for what 2021 will bring.
"A re-occurring theme in AHRI’s fourth HR Pulse report is the critical impact the right skills have had for organisations during the pandemic. Skills that include change management and leadership, adaptability and flexibility, resilience, and effective communication were considered by HR practitionersto be among the contributing factors to organisational survival through the crisis. They also identified that these very skills would be crucial for organisations post-pandemic.
However, the report also found that only half of HR practitioners believe their workforce is ready for 2021, and even fewer believe their workforce actually has those skills they identified as critical for future success".
While this report is specific to HR practitioners, I believe that is an excellent representation of what skills most professions are going to need post COVID-19.
AHRI's 4th Pulse Survey Report found "a positive relationship between organisations being in a position to make strategic decisions about their future operating model and the level of confidence HR had in their workforce’s skills. Despite this, while 4/5 of HR practitioners believe their organisation will recruit over the next 6 months, only 1/5 are confident they will be recruiting for specific skills".
"Both of these findings suggest that rapid upskilling will be required for many organisations to move from the states of ‘reacting’ or ‘resolving’ to ‘recovering’. While the survey shows that HR practitioners are well aware of this, leadership also needs to understand how fundamental an appropriately skilled workforce is to their organisation’s recovery journey".
To read the complete report, click this link