Managing Yourself as an HR Manager During the Covid-19 Crisis

May 29th 2020 | Posted by phil scott

Managing Yourself as an HR Manager During the Covid-19 Crisis

Managing Yourself as an HR Manager During the Covid-19 Crisis

As an HR manager, over the last few weeks, you have been faced with a situation for which there is no rulebook or specific guidance.

You have had to guide your business and its employees through the testing global pandemic, and you are still doing so.

You probably feel as though you are constantly trying to fight fires right now. After all, we are all in the middle of a crisis situation. However, as an HR professional, you are still in a position to empower your business and make sure that it stays on track. In order to do this, you need to understand how to manage yourself and the situation.

Normalising a difficult situation

One of your most important tasks right now is to normalise the situation as much as possible. Many of the people who work for your organisation will be feeling insecure and out of place. You can help to change this by giving them the tools and support that they need to feel connected again.

This is not just about conducting regular Zoom meetings or sending keep in touch emails. People need to feel valued by your organisation, so that they remain motivated. For instance, is there an opportunity for employees who are furloughed to develop their skills with support from you and the business.

It’s important for employees to realise that what they do is important to the organisation. For instance, people who are working from home need to have the technology in place for them to be able to meet organisational and personal goals and targets. Now, as much as ever, it’s important to have SMART strategies and goals in place.

Making the best use of technology

As mentioned earlier, technology has an important part to play in enabling people to continue working at this time. This applies to your role as an HR Manager just as much as it does to any other role. For instance, it’s time to make use of Cloud-based performance management systems which are available to your business. These systems help to maintain a structure and keep the business and the employees connected in a common goal.

You may also need to help the business to adjust its goals and working practices going forward. The current situation presents an excellent opportunity to examine whether some of the systems and practices that have been put in place actually work better for the business.

Many of these practices may also work better for employees in the long-term. They may present you and the business with an opportunity to develop a more content workforce and create a place where people are inspired to be productive and creative.

It’s easy to feel suffocated by the current situation. There are so many different issues to deal with. However, if you step back and examine the whole picture, you will see that this is a good opportunity for you to put your strategic thinking to use to benefit your business and its employees.

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