As the pandemic took gruesome strides across world forcing country after country to go into lockdown, most organizations across the world were forced to reinvent their workplace strategies overnight. Caught in the eye of this storm was the HR function, which had to respond and adapt immediately to the new normal. This required mobilizing teams to solve challenges of remote working, and lead people through periods of crisis, change and uncertainty in order to ensure that the business could keep the engine running. 

For the CHRO and their teams, ‘resilience’ is characterized by the ability to co-create change in a way that it empowers individuals and teams while inspiring a future for the organization that constantly evolves and matures. We believe the forward-thinking HR is a by-product of the pandemic, which has been crucial to steering businesses through the present uncertainties and disruptions.

Today’s workforce is more complex than ever. The dynamics of the workplace has witnessed rapid change in the past few years. The employee expectations too are evolving with multi-generational workforce bringing in new and different attitudes to work. Today’s HR function’s role is more complex than ever with more focus on diversity and inclusion, workforce composition that balances full timers to part timers or new gig workers, and reskilling employees in step with industry requirements — all the while ensuring that they keep pace with both ever-evolving technology and complex compliance needs.

As we move toward reimagining the HR function in a post-pandemic world, the old rules will need to give way to a model that is more flexible and responsive, one that is built around the four interrelated forces: intelligent recruitment, multi-gen talent management, unified payroll, and personalized benefits and well-being. 

In our playbook on Resilient HR — The Future of Work Needs a Resilient HR. Are You Prepared? — we demonstrate how a proactive approach by the HR can empower the reinvented digital workplace.