How can companies can manage post-Covid 19 work challenges?

Employers are facing major long-lasting work challenges following Coronavirus and may need to adopt new ways of managing employees, says Adrian Lewis, Director, Activ Absence.

New research from GoldLeaf[i], a video conferencing company, highlights that 60% of people would like to work from home more often than they did before lockdown. Of these, almost two thirds would like to work from home either two or three times a week, and one quarter only want to pay the office a visit one day a week.

According to a recent poll by Gallup^[ii], approximately 60% of Americans workers prefer to work remotely as much as possible, even when public health restrictions are lifted. Also, a forecast by Global Workplace Analytics[iii] estimates that 25-30% of the global workforce will be working from home multiple days a week by the end of 2021.

Activ Absence highlights that the working environment is likely to change when people return to work, and employers must be ready to manage this and potentially introduce more flexible working policies and systems to keep track of their remote staff.

They highlight that companies will need to manage more home workers and potentially introduce staggered work times to ensure public transport isn’t overcrowded and employees can return safely. Some companies may introduce flexi-time to spread out when people come into the office over the day or week and employers will need to keep track of their working hours.”

Adrian Lewis says, “With holidays accruing during lockdown, managing annual leave will be another challenge. Employers could be facing a surge in employees all wanting to take holidays in the second half of the year.

“There is always a year end mad dash for people to take holidays, particularly as some companies have a use it or lose it policy, but this year the situation will be exacerbated.”

“Whilst employers are legally obliged to allow workers to carry over up to four weeks of holiday for up to two years if they were prevented from taking it due to Covid-19, it’s likely people will be desperate to get away as soon as they can to travel in the UK or abroad.

“Ensuring no holiday clashes and the workplace is sufficiently staffed will be a challenge. One solution to help employers manage these workplace challenges is to implement technology such as cloud-based absence management software.

“Our Activ Absence cloud-based system gives companies complete transparency over their workforce. The system monitors employee sick leave, employees working remotely, on staggered work times, furloughed or on annual leave, as well as other absences. Managers can access the system no matter where they are based, providing them with confidence they have real-time visibility over their workforce.”

“Investing in technology can help businesses keep track of staff and ensure they are fully prepared for the challenges of the post-Covid 19 workplace.”

For more information on absence management software visit www.activabsence.co.uk

[i] https://www.thehrdirector.com/business-news/future-of-work/uk-workers-say-they-will-continue-to-work-from-home-after-lockdown-is-eased-and-majority-are-happy-to-wait-another-month-before-returning-to-the-office/

[ii] https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2020/05/06/covid-19-future-of-work-coronavirus/#494c408573b2

[iii] https://globalworkplaceanalytics.com/work-at-home-after-covid-19-our-forecast