Many organisations survived the pandemic mainly because they had a well-prepared HR team, says Matthew Naudi, FHRD president.

What were the main effects that the coronavirus pandemic had on local organisations?

The effects of the pandemic have been very far-reaching. The pandemic took no hostages. All economic sectors were affected to some extent or other. Even those few sectors that might have flourished during the pandemic, all had to adapt due to the sudden economic and operational uncertainty brought about by the pandemic.

The biggest effect the pandemic has had, besides the obvious health issues, is on the way we work. Although it was always on the cards, the pandemic accelerated the way we shifted from decades of office-centric eight-to-five work, to a more flexible approach, allowing employees to work from home and measuring productivity in outcomes rather than in hours.

The secret now lies in how to unlearn the bad habits and inefficient and bureaucratic processes of the past decades while retaining office and organisational culture and keeping a workforce engaged.

I believe every organisation has to find its own balance between the old and new ways of working, while remaining competitive and attractive in the labour market. It’s not a new normal but a changing normal. We hope to tackle the future of work beyond the pandemic at the FHRD annual conference being held in person on Friday, November 12 at the Hilton Conference Centre.

Post-pandemic implies that the pandemic is over even though numbers are still rising in some countries, not deaths thankfully. Maybe we need to speak about a peri-pandemic scenario, which is a situation in which COVID-19 sticks around like white on snow – the analogy being that snow melts away but returns every year in many countries.

Some local organisations were obviously hit very badly, especially those in the hospitality industry. Government’s fiscal intervention to help companies such as the wage supplement, was of great relief and helped save many jobs. Unions were very understanding of the situation and the employees in general accommodating to the fiscal measures implemented at the workplace.

Resilience and preparedness were key, even though no-one could have ever imagined disruption on such a scale. Probably the long-lasting effect the pandemic had on the local human capital is the exodus of foreign workers who had been instrumental to the growth of the economy over the past years, an effect still being felt today.

What role did HR play in managing the COVID-19 response – especially in keeping the workforce engaged, resilient and productive?

To a certain extent, the pandemic has emphasised the need for every organisation to have an effective HR function.

It has also accentuated the fact that HR professionals need to be agile, open to experimentation, tech savvy and above all command some influence in the C-suite and board room.

The human resource function has taken a new dimension within organisations and was the key factor contributing to the survival of many companies over the past years.

Digital was the strongest answer we had to the disruption brought about by the pandemic

The HR team became the so-to-speak newfound thought leaders of organisations. They became the persons who other professionals within the same organisation went to for advice and insights especially on the future of work.

Together with the IT department, I think many organisations survived the pandemic mainly because they had a well-prepared HR team. Organisations who had an effective HR team managed to better cushion the impact, both for the employer and the employees.

Yet all aspects of the HR function had to be rethought, redesigned and in some cases HR had to give birth to new ways of working. We had to rethink the way we recruit, the way we onboard new employees who are working from home, how we measure performance and manage talent, enforce company culture, the way we retain employees and look at employee wellness.

Has the transition to digital HR been accelerated through the pandemic response?

There is no escaping the digital transformation. Digital is the future and in life sometimes you need a bit of darkness to get you seriously going, Mary Oliver, a poet and Pulitzer Award winner, once wrote. And this is what the pandemic has done. It has brought to the fore the fact that organisations that were not technologically and digitally prepared suffered immensely.

Even the EU has set out a vision for a successful digital transformation of Europe’s economy and society by the end of the decade, so organisations definitely need to be prepared.

What was thought to be the future of work a few months ago, suddenly became the present. This is why many companies had to speed up their digital transformation processes. Digital was the strongest answer we had to the disruption brought about by the pandemic. Without the tech and innovation, COVID-19 would have had a much greater negative impact.

Organisations learnt that they need to invest in and embrace digital to offer more resilience against any future crises. It’s a mammoth change for some that requires a change of mindset.

Digitalizing HR will change everything about the way we work, including the nature of our work, career structures and the skills needed to do one’s job.

Technologies like artificial intelligence, automation and robotics are changing the future of work making processes more data-driven and efficient.

Has the coronavirus pandemic highlighted the importance of employee well-being?

Employee well-being has always been considered important, even pre-pandemic. HR professionals have always recognised the fact that employee well-being is directly linked to employee engagement, better performance and increased output.

The pandemic however gave well-being an added dimension. We have moved on from just the physical aspect. Organisations now feel they have a responsibility for a more holistic well-being including physical, emotional, mental, financial, social and purpose of the employees. Remote working and flexibiity coupled with technological advances that make us more contactable and accessible, have brought on new stresses on the mental well-being of employees and the distinction between home and office has become clouded causing mental fatigue at times.

HR professionals now need to listen more and be more empathetic with employees and their famlies. The physical and mental wellness of our employees took a whole new dimension, and companies started to feel responsible for employee wellness even after hours.

What key elements – such as remote working, and new critical roles – will survive the pandemic and become a staple in a modern organisation?

Smart working will develop further and the successful implementation of smart work will keep organisations competitive in the labour market. Using technology to improve both the performance and job is not a choice but a must for local organisations. Human capital in Malta already comes at a premium with a great shortage of people in the labour market and a great gap in the current skills needed.

However, the reskilling of current employees is of fundamental importance. Organisations need to have a workforce with advanced digital and cognitive skills; one which is agile, flexible and adaptable to face current and future disruptions with less stress. Skills such as empathy and communication are now top of the list.

A recent study has shown that 70 per cent of young persons are ready to leave the country. This is an alarming figure. Organisations need to react to his by becoming more agile and less bureaucratic.

Post-pandemic, will organisations become more agile and efficient?

We were already speaking of the need for organisations to be agile in order to have an edge over the competition. COVID-19 has further heightened the need for organisations to reorganise their composition, moving away from a strict hierarchical formation to more of a holacracy which empowers employees and teams of employees to take decisions as they go along.

It seems to be the best way forward for organisations to tackle the future challenges and disruptions brought about by the pandemic, but also by the digital, green and sustainable economies of the future.