Lockdown and Covid have had a massive impact on local businesses and employees in 2021. Having worked with local clients throughout the pandemic, we look at last year’s challenges, how to avoid them moving forward and what this year’s priorities should be.
Covid
Businesses have had to find new ways of managing people. We are seeing the aftermath of the impact of lockdown in areas such as increased tribunal cases in areas such as unfair dismissal due to redundancy and employers demanding that employees are vaccinated.
The Great Resignation
A worrying trend is the alarming increase in resignations. A shortage of candidates and higher salary/package expectations from job hunters all adds up to new roles taking longer to fill. Businesses need to adopt a different approach than the traditional methods, to find the right people in a candidate driven market.
Mental Health & Well-being
We have seen a significant increase in the number of issues relating to employee mental health that have surfaced because of lockdown. Not managing mental health and well-being can lead to tribunal claims as employees become far more expectant that their employer will look after their well-being.
Starting off in the right place
HR is often not at the top of the list until there is an issue with a disgruntled employee, often made worse if there’s no employment contract or policies in place to support you. A tribunal can increase financial penalties for unfair dismissal by 25% if it’s found that a proper dismissal process was not followed.
What should forward-thinking employers be focusing on in 2022?
We are regularly asked what are the HR trends that businesses should be aware of in 2022 that will help to grow their businesses.
Priority 1 – finding and recruiting talent
Flexible working, fast progression, development and the social and environmental footprint of your business are all things that are turning candidate’s heads. How are you doing to be different? It’s a competitive market and some employers will be left behind if they don’t adjust to the new needs of candidates.
Priority 2 – diversity, equality and inclusion
In a recent survey, 76% of job seekers said a diverse workforce is important when evaluating companies. Your approach to diversity and inclusion will give you an important competitive advantage.
Priority 3 – building skills and equipping leaders
The pandemic exposed the lack of skills that managers and business owners had in dealing with difficult people situations. Training and development continue to be a massive reason why employees stay (and leave) organisations.
Priority 4 – providing the right employee environment
It has taken a pandemic to bring sharply into focus what employees want, which is an employer who priorities their mental health & well-being, manages stress levels and sees them as someone with needs and expectations as an individual and not just someone in a job.
Priority 5 – flexible working
Job hunters and employees are keen to work remotely and to know they will be measured on getting the job done rather than being physically present. Flexible working and hybrid working are here to stay and employers would do well to embrace the opportunities they bring.
Join our webinar on Thursday 3rd February to find out what you need to know
In our informative and interactive webinar, we will share what the HR risk areas are that should be avoided, and what the consequences could be if your business isn’t legally compliant/you don’t keep your HR up to date.
We will also share what forward-thinking companies will be doing this year to retain and recruit talented employees.
www.hrdept.co.uk/clapham/training-and-events
