Managing People, post COVID by Organisations

HR is one of the most evolved functions today and in successful organisations HR has been a driving force across all streams of organization’s functions.

The expanding roles in HR function post Covid era are being discussed but don’t you feel what you already have is sufficient. New roles like Diversity Officer may be pertinent for a multi lingual, multi national work force but cannot understand roles like Ethics Officer, Workplace architect, Well-being Officer, Officer for Human Bias etc. They sound extravagant to say the least as the core HR & IR function is expected to take into cognisance the facets of these sub-functions.

It is beneficial to have a Psychiatrist or Psychologist to cover the individual’s well being , conflicts between co-workers, the gender relationships, the adjustment needs of working with multiple ethnic groups, the impact of organisational hierarchy and changes in physical work environments ( WFH) besides the mental equilibrium of work force during a crisis. The constantly changing skill needs in the work place put enormous pressure on employees and they are forced to balance their time to deliver their work and at the same time push them to enhance their competency / skill levels. Their mental equilibrium both on and off the office is being challenged when family is also involved and this is where a Talk Therapy becomes helpful. The inputs for talk therapy come out of appraisal feedback that has parameters to evaluate the soft skills, Competency levels or the attitudes of an employee. Hence an appraisal methodology has to be comprehensive to include the assessment parameters for such a talk therapy.

Some large organisations do employ a Professional Counsellor but the need is a wider adaptation of this role to help develop individuals and sustain excellence in work place. I always believe that a Manager is the best person to be a counsellor rather than an outsider and it is essential that he/she needs to be coached by a professional as well to be able to absorb the learnings and mentor or counsel his/her team members. The manager knows the organization’s DNA, he or she knows the best method of counseling that suits the team.