The nights are getting colder and longer and that means more time you curl up with your favorite electronic device for some good reading!
Right now, you need reading material more than ever, and our best blogs for include stories on adapting to the new realities of temporary staffing, emotional intelligence and on-boarding in the era of COVID-19.
The Impacts of COVID-19 on Temporary Staffing Strategies
Prior to the pandemic, the routine for sourcing temporary labor was pretty standard: work with a talent acquisition partner and manage costs based on what the market can deliver.
The pandemic has forced business leaders to reconsider every area of their respective organizations. In some industries, business slowed to a crawl. In others, companies had to manage quickly shifting consumer expectations and behaviors. Concurrently, many businesses changed to a remote work model.
Most of these factors impacted the temporary-labor market. In April 2020, for instance, there were only two million temporary and contract employees. Beyond the downsizing and quickly shifting needs for talent, organizations also struggled to evolve their practices for contactless and remote work.
While a greater supply of labor ought to be a benefit for businesses that are hiring, more legal guidelines made getting cost savings from the market anything but certain.
Getting in Touch with Your Emotional Intelligence
The idea of emotional intelligence, also referred to as “EQ”, has been around for more than two decades, but lately, HR professionals have been increasingly focused on the idea that people fall on a spectrum when it comes to emotional awareness – both of ourselves and awareness of other people.
A popular new online test called EQ-i 2.0 is meant to evaluate emotional intelligence and it’s been taken by more than 2 million people.
The test is said to offer useful personal insight to those who take it, For instance, if somebody scores high for assertiveness, it suggests they’re more prone to expressing their honest feelings in scenarios where there are difficult issues to discuss.
To be clear: Human behaviors are very situational and impacted by countless factors, a lot of them that our conscious selves never recognize, but patterns of behavior do have a tendency to bubble up, regardless.
Adjusting On-boarding to COVID-19
Despite the realities of COVID-19, onboarding is still a valuable business function that can’t be skipped just because of a global pandemic.
Remote onboarding is unknown territory for many managers and HR professionals. One approach to redesign the process is to handle paperwork digitally. Employers should look for e-sign features that are often included in payroll or benefits administration system. Sometimes, an onboarding feature has already been included and simply needs to be activated.
Before COVID, new employees could walk over to a co-worker or check with their supervisor when they had an issue. Now that it is more difficult to simply “pop by”, managers should be more assertive in communicating new employees.
