From not enough and hard to find, to far too many employees

Tue | 14.04.2020

Human Resources

Oranjegroep Services informs over "From not enough and hard to find, to far too many employees".

Last month, meant for many HR and Staffing companies and HR departments a big turning point.

Most employers could not anticipate or believe that what was so hard to find, in Romania, employees, will become, overnight, such a threat for the sustainability of the company.

We are not aware of any company that was previsioning a crisis, such dimension and loss of projects from one day to another, as it has happened during the month of March and has continued with April.

As recruitment and staffing company, we were normally called, for being asked for personnel for different industries and after the COVID-19 started and all the restrictions imposed by the Romanian Government were made public, most of the calls from our clients or potential clients became, What shall I do with my employees? How am I going to pay them? What shall I do after this period when perhaps I lost from my clients? 

 

Every crisis is a new opportunity

In business, as well as it is in our private lives, we can be blocked by questions and threats or stimulated by them and see them as challenges and opportunities. It is our option to see the opportunities and challenges or to grow in lamentations.

This is the time of the people that have always embraced change as a good turning point and is a time to learn for those that were more reserved. 

You can be the hunter or the prey, and yes, it is a choice! The most important is too be able, at a business and personal level, to understand the current situation, to be able to foresee the future, and consider it as an opportunity for a new start.

Many times, insecurity blocks us. The idea of changing from something that was or looked like being stable to something new, unexpected and unpredictable gives us troubles to move further. 

The Change Curve says so, there is first the shock, after comes the denial, after the anger followed by the acceptance and finally the integration or the change. It is a process, that now it is forced to happen in a short period of time. 

If before COVID-19, luck was something we were embarrassing, now the healthy process of change is what finally must occur. We always knew that we did not had to recreate what has worked out of luck, but that we had to go through the process of change as a sustainable way of business. 

We have to believe that this is the right moment for a refresh/restart of the business, to reconsider everything on a creative new fundament, taking into consideration the current market expectations. HR has a key role in training/coaching the employees in this regard.

 

Communication is the keyword

The rules imposed by the government, are just the framework, and as always, we are supposed to build around them. 

HR departments do not have now just the pressure to make all the paperwork ready for the authorities so they can access, at least for some workers, the technical unemployment, but also to build trust for the future for the employees within the company they work for.

HR should be the interface between the management of the company and the employees, emphasizing the importance of the most important asset of an organization, i.e. the human resources, in the future activity. Employees should be aware that they are part of the change, they will have their share on implementation/new start. 

The contact with our employees, our answers to their fears regarding their future, health and incomes, are now our chances to build a stronger and lasting relation with our employees.

The more we will be open to share with our employees from what the company is taking as measures to protect them and the company, the more the trust and respect of our employees will grow.

Transparency and honesty in the relation with the employees was, for many companies, not their strongest point. Now it is what we need to do.

People need to know that they are going to be put in technical unemployment and what this means for them and for the company, including concrete numerical values.

There is a wide range of assumptions among employees from different corporations mostly, but also from medium size companies, that they are put in technical unemployment because the company does not want to lose one penny and that the company will stay strong and people will just earn less. Basically, people think that big companies always win, and people mostly lose, and they are abused during these times. 

This matter needs a careful approach.

 

Build up the positive thinking of the employees

For the companies that do not have yet, some well-trained leaders and communication specialists or consultants, now is the time to have them, to help you send the correct and the clear message to your employees.

And the message we want to set to our employees has to be clear, showing support, showing understanding and bringing in hope for the people.

Even if so, that after the restrictions will be taken, if some of the employees will indeed not be needed anymore, the way we communicate with them these days, will make our communication about a potential end of collaboration, more easy to handle for the both sides.

When we will take good care of our employees, we will be also building a more solid relation with our clients as they will see us as a respectful company.

By being there for our employees now, in a correct and professional way, we will achieve a great internal and external communication for our company.

These are the days when knowledge is finally more important than information. We are not anymore fishing in the market; we are now using our knowledge.

 

Continuous learning

Learning plays a very important role, in order to fulfill the challenging requirements in all areas.

We learn as employees and we leard as businesses it is the only way for real and sustainable growth, and now, more than before, we need to learn and to addapt faster. 

It is important to mention, that flexible workforce assure a proper human resources management in any circumstances. 

In hard economic period, flexible workforce will grow, since it is one of the best options for the overcome the situation/crisis.

For individuals, part of such an organization, the main task in this period is the continuous training and personnel development programs, in order to keep the required/necessary attractiveness in the workforce market.

The future always changes and therefore development and staying attractive as a company an as an employee is essential.

 

Go ahead, together we will succeed

Our message to you is, be strong, believe into the future, analyze the change curve and see where you are in it now, stay close to your employees, make plans for the future and there is always light after dark! 

As part of a team, together we can achieve almost everything, under a healthy and creative leadership, everybody has to be ready for a complete new start, in many cases, to prove the ability to learn something new, to adapt to the new circumstances.

Employees must be aware that the organization is ready to provide all required support and the necessary environment to make the change as smooth as possible.

Make plans about how your employees are going to work when social distancing will be still needed for a while.

Prepare in advance the new secure procedures for a safe start.

Think of what you will have to change inside the office space so people can work form a distance that is comfortable for them and that respects the rules of the government.

Inside the factory, what working shifts do you need to make now, so less people work on the same time, but the production still goes on. 

Involve your employees or their representatives into the decisions of the company.

Return to the ordinary everyday life will be the chance of a new start!

 

In times when all looks closed being open is the chance to go further!

 

Andreea Popescu

Oranjegroep Services

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