For many, the COVID-19 pandemic has been an accelerator for digital transformation at scale. Humanity has been thrust with the need to go digital and switch to the remote work protocol to ensure employee safety and business continuity. While this has enabled businesses and nations with the agility to respond to uncertain times, an unplanned and rapid move to digital learning models can result in poor user experiences – not conducive to sustainable growth.

Work from home (WFH) is a relatively new concept for many enterprises and employees and has not been considered to be a favorable option for the longest time. Not surprisingly, more than half of the world's companies (close to 51%) did not have any protocols or plans in place to combat a global emergency (e.g., a pandemic of this nature).

However, businesses and nations cannot afford to put skilling and capability building on hold or push the pause button on critical workplace learning. While many have established learning response teams across their global networks, some are in the process of doing so. In times of physical distancing and remote working, Human Capital Management and social learning/collaboration platforms such as SuccessFactors have been vital to drive maximum productivity, enhanced employee engagement, and breaking barriers between teams for better business results.

Navigating the crisis with the power of digital learning

Amidst the uncertainty, volatility, ambiguity, and complexities of creating new functional normalcy for employee experiences lie hidden opportunities for us. The pandemic has opened up new pathways for business leaders to reimagine and design flexible, agile business strategies. Human resource management applications such as SAP SuccessFactors have brought in new capabilities to run business operations smoothly, communicate with employees and other stakeholders regularly, and plan innovative business continuity plans – remotely from anywhere. These cloud-based HR solutions easily integrate to build a holistic HCM system that manages recruitment, onboarding, training, and retention programs effectively.  

Disruption-resilient L&D program for a resilient workforce

Apart from enabling remote work arrangements, creating a culture of continuous and relevant learning despite disruptions requires compliance and security risks to be minimized, and training of talent with a unified learning management system (LMS). LMS enables enterprises to develop and implement instruction-led, formal online training sessions on the cloud. Thus, eliminating the dependency on an organization's IT infrastructure to manage and update all the e-learning programs.

And while e-onboarding and recruitment have eliminated several manual efforts, setting meaningful goals and performance indicators is also necessary. To be sufficiently adept in the new working environment, we need to create transparent performance management, appraisal, and analytics-driven compensation processes. Employees can be rewarded based on a pay-for-performance appraisal culture to optimize top talent retention, enhance productivity, and motivate employees.

'9-6 work' may never be the same - for better or worse

While it may not seem like a priority in the eye of the storm, exploring and implementing the lessons learned from these new experiences from being able to 'work-from-anywhere' – can be invaluable in weathering future storms.

For instance, when past discussions around HXM (Human Experience Management) tended to revolve only around talent attraction and retention, today, it is about helping employees manage the rate of workplace shifts and disruptions. From how employees work now, how quickly they can access the required information or files, to how socially included they feel in the organization culture when working remotely – have now altered considerably in response to COVID-19. This is why HXM matters more than it ever did.

Many have jumped on the possible opportunities already.

A recent Gartner study found that around 74% of organizations have plans to shift some of their employees to remote working permanently. The future of work arrived in 100-odd days, transitioning preference for teleconferencing and collaboration apps from 'nice-to-have' to 'must-have.' The UK healthcare system underwent years of digital evolution in weeks.

Another Dubai-based global education leader recently embraced SAP SuccessFactors HCM to digitize its manual HR process in goals, performance management, and compensation planning. The company digitized its entire talent management process with a single HR platform for enhanced process transparency, optimized employee engagement, and improved collaboration. The adoption of such tools has eased operations from anywhere, increased productivity, and enabled flexibility to minimize the impact on business continuity.

In an era when virtual ways of working have become the new standard overnight, technology solely holds the key to sustained emotional and engaging employee experiences. The sooner we embrace the new reality, the more empowered global workforces will be in the long run.