In January, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a temporary stay on the implementation of the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) requiring employers with 100 or more employees to require proof of vaccination or weekly COVID-19 testing.
This means that the ETS is on hold for further review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and a potential return to the Supreme Court. For employers, this ruling is not a final decision on the issue, but it does give them more time to prepare if the ETS does ultimately take effect. However, it also indicates for employers that the current Supreme Court is unlikely to approve the requirement.
The ruling also does not apply to any state or local requirements. Littler maintains a chart of vaccine-related legislation by jurisdiction. In some states, lawmakers have taken steps to limit or prevent vaccine mandates, while other states, cities and counties already have vaccine mandates in place for certain workers. Employers should work with legal counsel to determine if they are impacted by any existing legislation.
Employers that are not impacted by any federal, state or local legislation, can choose policies and practices best suited to their business as long as those policies do not violate the law, according to law firm Jackson Lewis. According to U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance, employers are able to mandate vaccines in most cases, but they must provide reasonable accommodations for employees who cannot receive the vaccine because of certain medical conditions or sincerely held religious beliefs.
Employers who are asking about vaccination status should take care in their approach. Tracking employee vaccination status can help employers determine whether workers need to wear masks, how quickly they can return to the workplace after an exposure to COVID-19 or if they can increase capacity in offices, but employers should be cautious in asking follow-up questions about why a person has not gotten the vaccine. According to SHRM, questions about why an employee is not vaccinated could be subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
As for workers, surveys show they are split on vaccine mandates, with a small majority (53%) saying they want to see their workplace introduce the proper technology that could record proof of COVID-19 vaccination.
After administering more than 30 million vaccines across the U.S., a healthcare company announced a company-wide vaccination policy requiring employees in clinical and corporate positions to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of October 2021. The move was driven by health and safety concerns for employees, patients and customers, but the client knew it wouldn’t come to fruition without impact to their workforce.
Flexing our Process for the New Policy
Because the new policy stipulated that all new hires in impacted roles be vaccinated, the PeopleScout client engaged with us prior to the announcement to discuss their plans and get ahead of any impact to recruitment efforts. As their long-term RPO partner, we were uniquely positioned to help the healthcare company create a multi-faceted plan to communicate the vaccine mandate to candidates and adjust recruitment activities to ensure new hires are in compliance with the mandate.
Leveraging copy and communications from the company’s HR and legal teams, we updated all relevant job descriptions with a section on the vaccine mandate and deadlines. To provide an additional screening step, we added vaccine status questions to application forms for the relevant positions. If candidates indicated that they were not vaccinated or not willing to be vaccinated, they were automatically disqualified in most states.
Taking a Hands-on Approach to Reduce Candidate Drop Off
To mitigate the impact on the dropout rate at the top of the funnel, we followed up with every candidate who said “no” to ensure they had understood the questions and hadn’t answered in error. As a result of this extra effort, several candidates were requalified and put back into the running for employment with the healthcare company. Disposition codes were also used to indicate when candidates left the funnel due reasons related to the vaccine requirements. This helped the company gather data on how the policy was impacting recruitment outcomes.
Supporting the Accommodation Process
COVID-19 vaccine mandate information was added to the candidate communication sequence in the organization’s CRM, directing them to a website complete with FAQs. Throughout the screening and interview process, the PeopleScout team also fielded questions from candidates. Common queries were about how to apply for a reasonable accommodation for those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical or religious reasons. While the internal legal team handled the review of all accommodation applications, the PeopleScout team did field questions about the accommodation process, freeing up the organization’s internal teams to focus on more strategic initiatives while boosting the candidate experience.
For successful candidates, we ensured all offer letters contained language about the vaccination requirement and followed up with candidates to address any final questions.
So what does a return to work look like? Right now, the fog of the present obscures what our “new normal” will look like. As work becomes increasingly digitally enabled and uncertainty continues, many employers are wondering when or if they should return to the workplace, as well as how exactly to go about the process.
So, in this article, we’ll cover what employees expect from employers during their return to work, how employers are leveraging the hybrid workforce model, and strategies that organizations should consider implementing while planning a safe return to the workplace.
The Return to Work: Employer Preparations Versus Employee Expectations
The pandemic has tested the employee and employer relationship. Employers have supported their workforce to an unprecedented degree in ways they hadn’t before and under greater scrutiny. Meanwhile, workers have shown incredible resilience and adaptability as they worked to remain productive amidst the challenges of the pandemic.
Then, the development of vaccines raised confidence in returning to the workplace, but uncertainties remain about how to bring employees back safely. As such, employers should develop a return strategy that helps meet their business goals, while also addressing employee expectations and the need for increased flexibility.
According to PwC’s U.S. Pulse Survey, employees reported that their preferred work arrangements were:
Interestingly, according to a report from The Conference Board, returning employees to the workplace is more important for U.S.-based employers. Specifically, the survey found that, among U.S. executives, 22% said returning employees to the workplace was a priority, while only 5% of their global counterparts agreed.
In the next section, we’ll discuss how employers and employees can find common ground through a hybrid workplace model.
Returning to the Office: The Workforce of the Future is Hybrid
While both employees and employers have varying expectations on what a return should look like, one thing is clear: everyone expects more flexibility in the workplace, and a hybrid workplace model combines characteristics of remote and on-site work. In a hybrid workplace, some or all employees are free to choose where and when they work; they can also divide their time between working from home, a co-working space or their organization’s office.
Granted, whether an employer can offer a hybrid workplace model depends on multiple considerations, most notably the industry and job type. While there are a variety of careers and roles that require employees to be on-site every day, Gartner estimates that nearly two-thirds of employees—mostly knowledge workers—can work remotely at least some of the time. They can fully focus on tasks without the noises and interruptions of the traditional workplace environment. They can choose to work when they’re feeling most productive, whether that’s in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning. When employees are happier, better rested and less stressed, they do better work.
Employee Wellbeing and Returning to the Office
Being free to work when and where they please has a significant positive influence on employee satisfaction. For instance, in a SurveyMonkey study, employees who worked remotely reported feeling happier than their colleagues who remained working in the office. However, for others, working remotely can be isolating and even distracting. Clearly, a hybrid workplace mitigates many of the downsides of pure remote work to create a professional space outside of the home for employees to collaborate and socialize with colleagues.
Lowered Costs
In a hybrid workplace, there’s no need for row after row of assigned desks. Instead, once an organization knows how many employees will be in the office at any given time, employers can plan around new occupancy levels to cut down on the cost of rent and other expenses.
Safety
For extra safety returning to the office, a hybrid workplace also helps keep employees safe during the pandemic by: reducing the number of people in the workplace at any one given time; creating ample personal space; and making it easier to stay distanced. Flexible workers can also commute during off-peak times or work from home if they or their family are at particular risk.
Return to Work: The Hybrid Workforce in Action
For example, at IBM an employee’s office attendance requirement is determined by work deliverables or the need for team collaboration. While at, Ford office workers are required to be on site for specific meetings or projects, otherwise they are permitted to work remotely. At Uber, Citigroup and H&R Block employees are required to be in the office two to three days per week.
Conversely, some employers place workers into tiers. For instance, Salesforce divided their hybrid workforce into three tiers: flex employees in the office one to three days per week, fully remote employees and office-based employees required to be in the office four to five days per week. Similarly, TIAA will group employee roles into four categories: fully remote, mostly remote, mostly on site, and fully on site.
Supporting Your Employees Return to Work
As expected, balancing the physical and emotional wellbeing of employees with the business needs of the employer has been a top challenge for talent and HR leaders throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. As an example, when PwC’s COVID-19 Global CFO Pulse Survey asked, “Which of the following is your company planning to implement once you start to transition back to on-site work?”, CFOs responded:
Mental Health and Workplace Stress
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everyone’s mental health to some degree, so feelings of anxiety and hesitancy around returning to the workplace should are to be expected. Now more than ever, leaders and managers need to demonstrate compassion and understanding. Employers should invest in new mental health resources for employees in need. This can take the form of an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) or a referral to external organizations that can crisis intervention, counseling, or other assistance. Plus, easy access to and promotion of an employer’s EAP can help provide many helpful resources for employee mental health in the workplace.
Flexible Paid Sick Policy
For workers with limited paid sick time, testing positive for COVID-19 comes with potential repercussions to their livelihood. To mitigate the potential loss of income, employer should consider implementing a flexible paid sick policy that offers employees additional paid time off if they do contract COVID-19. This may put employees, who would otherwise worry about the repercussions of getting sick, at ease. Paid sick leave policies should also communicate the importance of staying home when feeling unwell (even if unsure) while making it clear that doing so will not impact that employee negatively. For more information and guidance on sick leave policy and returning to work after
Create Clear and Consistent Communications
An action plan for returning to the workplace is only as effective as an organization’s ability to clearly articulate the details of the plan to employees in a way that everyone understands. Moreover, communicating with employees about plans to reopen can help keep them engaged and provide a sense of normalcy. Employees will want to hear about their employers reopening plans, from social distancing to wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) as well as details about workplace layout and exactly who is required to return and when.
Returning to Work After COVID: Conclusion
COVID-19 has taught us a lot about how we live and how we work. It has laid bare that our usual routines are not set in stone, and that alternative ways of working and building community within in organization are not just viable but can have a lasting impact on our happiness, productivity and wellbeing. The future of work is flexible, and more businesses are turning to the hybrid model as a way to achieve the flexibility their employees need. Going forward, the concept of the workplace in the minds of many employees and organizations will no longer be confined to a physical space, rather a hybrid mix of places and spaces where work can be accomplished.
As U.S. employers navigate pandemic-related changes to the workforce, leaders face new challenges brought on by the surging Delta variant.
For many employers, rising caseloads across the country have pushed them to delay a return to the office. As the New York Times reports, many companies have pushed their return to the office target into 2022. Additionally, employers face a shifting landscape of requirements and best practices to keep employees and customers safe and healthy.
Vaccine Requirements
In early September, President Joe Biden announced that he was directing the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to develop an Emergency Temporary Standard that will require all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure all employees are vaccinated or receive weekly tests for COVID-19. Employers will also be required to provide paid time off for employees to get the vaccine.
Additionally, President Biden signed executive orders requiring vaccines for all executive branch employees and some employees of federal contractors.
Despite the announcement, it is still not clear how or when the new requirement will take effect. Employers should work with their legal counsel to monitor any new developments.
There is also a patchwork of local laws, and employers should consult an attorney to see if any apply in their jurisdiction. For example, Santa Clara County in California, requires employers to verify vaccination status with repeated follow-up for those who are unvaccinated. Others, like in Oregon, require employees to sign an attestation saying that they have been vaccinated.
Mask Mandates
With the Delta variant, the CDC has revised its guidance on masks, recommending that everyone, including vaccinated people, should wear masks indoors in areas of substantial transmission. The CDC has a website where people can track the transmission status of their county.
OSHA recommends that employers provide all workers with face coverings at no cost to workers. Employers must discuss reasonable accommodations for any workers who are unable to wear or have difficulty wearing certain types of face coverings due to a disability.
Some special types of employers such as healthcare and congregate care employers will have different and more stringent masking requirements and guidelines.
With the Delta variant driving increased cases of COVID-19 across the country, the CDC has revised its guidance on masks, recommending that everyone, including vaccinated people, should wear masks indoors in areas of substantial transmission. The CDC has a website where people can track the transmission status of their county.
At the same time, some areas across the U.S. are reinstating mask mandates, and employers should pay close attention to local requirements.
Los Angeles County, California, St. Louis, Missouri and Jackson, Mississippi have reinstated mask mandates for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Many other jurisdictions require or recommend masks for unvaccinated individuals. Masks are also required for all people who are in federal buildings or on federal lands. This includes federal contractors working on site.
Additionally, officials in other locations, including Oregon and Washington state are once again recommending but not yet mandating state-wide mask usage. Employers should watch their local guidelines closely as they may change as coronavirus cases continue to increase.
OSHA recommends that employers provide all workers with face coverings at no cost to workers. Employers must discuss reasonable accommodations for any workers who are unable to wear or have difficulty wearing certain types of face coverings due to a disability.
Some special types of employers such as healthcare and congregate care employers will have different and more stringent masking requirements and guidelines.
As U.S. employers navigate pandemic-related changes to the workforce, leaders face new challenges, including the questions of requiring COVID-19 vaccinations and tracking employee vaccination status.
According to Littler, employers are taking a cautious approach, with concerns about worker privacy. According to U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance, employers are able to mandate vaccines in most cases, but they must provide accommodations for employees who cannot receive the vaccine because of certain medical conditions or sincerely held religious beliefs. However, few employers are mandating the vaccine.
When it comes to tracking employee vaccination status, employers are taking a mixed approach, with 41% of respondents to the Littler survey saying they will ask workers to voluntarily disclose their vaccination status, 32% saying they won’t ask and 27% saying they aren’t sure.
Employers who are asking should take care in their approach. Tracking employee vaccination status can help employers determine whether workers need to wear masks or if they can increase capacity in offices, but employers should be cautious in asking follow up questions about why a person has not gotten the vaccine. According to SHRM, questions about why an employee is not vaccinated could be subject to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
If employers do ask vaccination status, they have a few options for tracking. Some employers are relying on the honor system, some require an employee to sign an attestation saying they have been vaccinated and others have formal tracking systems.
There is also a patchwork of local laws, and employers should consult an attorney to determine if any apply in their jurisdiction. For example, Santa Clara County in California requires employers to verify vaccination stats with repeated follow up for those who are unvaccinated. Others, in Oregon, require at least an attestation. Additionally, laws are pending in some states that would prevent private employers from verifying employee vaccination status.
As organizations around the globe confront the challenges presented by the coronavirus outbreak, even the most seasoned talent leaders find themselves in uncharted territory.
Months into the pandemic, we still face rising cases around the globe and continued uncertainty. However, for many organizations, it is important to keep the talent acquisition and workforce management function moving.
In that spirit, we’re sharing a conversation about how a structured approach to contingent labor can ensure business continuity during a crisis. This podcast is a recording of a Talking Talent Webinar. Our three panelists joined to talk about the Waffle House Index and how the concept can be applied to contingent labor.
In a hurricane, tornado or other catastrophic event across the American south, the Waffle House is one of the last or only businesses that remains open. The concept is so famous that FEMA has used the Waffle House Index for the last decade when assessing the severity of storms.
How does the restaurant chain do it? And how can you replicate that idea?
Our panelists are Jen Torres, Senior Vice President of Client Delivery at PeopleScout; David Corrigan, Business Development Manager at PeopleScout; and Nicki Chipp-Flohr, Vice President of Strategic Accounts at PeopleReady.
Jen Torres has more than 14 years of experience as a partner to Fortune 100 companies seeking managed workforce solutions. Her creativity and innovation helped some of the country’s largest financial and technology institutions launch and develop workforce operations into industry-leading programs. She is known for her passion for people and excellence in leading custom workforce solutions with emphasis on customer service.
Jen is personally passionate about involvement in volunteerism, diversity networks and with disability affinity groups that have a greater positive impact on the communities they operate in.
David Corrigan has more than 12 years of strategic sales experience across the talent landscape of workforce solutions, enterprise technology, and advisory services.
David maintains a deep understanding of industry trends, best practices, and business acumen. This foundational knowledge enables him to become a trusted advisor to his clients and deliver a high touch and relationship-centered experience. He takes a programmatic approach to identify, develop, and execute sales strategies, ensuring a measurable and accountable sales process.
With over 25 years’ experience in staffing and employment-related fields, Nicki Chipp-Flohr joined PeopleReady as Vice President, Strategic Accounts in February 2019. In this position, Nicki oversees growth, strategy and operations of PeopleReady’s national accounts.
Nicki brings expertise in crafting and leading solutions for national and multiple-unit, high-volume staffing accounts.
In addition to staffing, Nicki has worked in vendor management and managed/outsourced services, overseeing multiple SOWs and accounts. She has worked in various roles in her career, from recruitment and on-site management to multi-state and national leadership positions.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues and talent leaders around the world respond to the constant uncertainty, many are partnering with RPO and technology providers. Meanwhile, hiring and technology needs are changing quickly and frequently, which necessitates a nimble partner who can scale quickly. However, the days of implementing new programs in the traditional ways are over. Specifically, there are no days-long, in-person kickoffs or hands-on, face-to-face trainings. Now, it’s all virtual.
At PeopleScout, Emily Gordon has risen to the challenge of building partnerships and implementing new talent programs without even a handshake. She has more than 21 years of experience in talent acquisition and has overseen sourcing, continual process improvement and client implementations. In particular, her expertise is in transitions, process improvement, team building, client relationship development and operational delivery.
We spoke with Emily from her home in Michigan about what implementation looks like right now.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic transformed the RPO implementation process?
The first and most obvious change is that it has moved everything to a 100% virtual process. That was a big shift for us. We depended on in-person meetings and non-verbal cues. Implementation has been a human-to-human process. We’ve been really pushed to leverage technology and use new tools. We’ve also added an emotional intelligence expert, who is helping our internal teams and our customers adapt. We’re interacting with stakeholders in different ways.
We’re using a lot of video and doing lots of checking in, but we’re also taking more breaks. In a traditional implementation, we’d have a big kickoff that would take place over multiple days. We’d meet in person and get the butterflies and nervousness and excitement out. That’s difficult to manage now; because of video fatigue, people have a hard time spending a full workday on camera in a video meeting. So, we break our kickoff into more manageable chunks.
That means that while implementations during the pandemic have moved faster than they did before, it feels like we’re moving slower over the first few days as we get started. Relationships take longer to grow over video calls than they do in person. At the same time, we save a lot of time because we don’t need to build in travel or work as hard to coordinate schedules. This speed is important right now because a lot of customers want to implement new solutions faster because they had to scale down so quickly due to COVID. Now, they’re needing to ramp back up just as quickly.
What does the process look like now?
We’ve boiled the process down to four steps, and we use the acronym NEXT. It stands for Needs analysis, Engage and evaluate, eXecute and Transform.
In our needs analysis, we meet internally with our business development team and solutions architects, and we meet externally with clients to really understand their needs. We define what success looks like in this partnership and ensure that all their needs are met.
Then, we move into engage and evaluate, where we bring in even more stakeholders, including our PeopleScout client delivery teams. We go through every step of the client’s current process and look for ways to optimise and bring in our expertise. We make sure there aren’t any missed opportunities to accelerate success.
Then, we’re in the execute phase, where we add in our technology teams. We start to test and bring our new processes into practice. We bring the full delivery team into place, complete trainings and get ready for go-live.
Finally, we move into transformation. When you think about an implementation, it is really just the beginning, right? Our philosophy at PeopleScout is that implementation is a process and not an event. When we get to that last phase, we’re really at the beginning of our relationship with a new way of working established for both organisations.
What are the best virtual partnership building strategies you’ve developed – especially when it comes to communication?
Video is so important. At first, I think people were shy about being on video all day, every day. We broke up meetings to make it work for everybody. We also use collaboration technology to update our notes and project management tracking in real time so clients can watch everything happen. Building transparent communication virtually is difficult, so this has been an important step.
We’ve also learned not to be afraid to say, “I think we need to try that again.” Sometimes, we need to have another call to dig into an issue a little bit more, or maybe the right stakeholders couldn’t make part of a call. Sometimes, we ask the same questions two or three times throughout the process to make sure everyone is still on the same page.
A lot of talent acquisition teams are running lean right now. What advice do you have for organizations that are implementing RPO with a small internal team?
That’s the best part about RPO, right? Whatever you’re trying to implement – whether you’re trying to expand scope or add technology – that’s what we’re made for. Just be honest about the team you have and the needs you have. If you don’t have access to subject matter experts, let us know and be flexible. Maybe you previously had a reporting analyst, but now you can only provide access so that our team can find the necessary data ourselves. That’s okay. That’s our job. Our job is to bring the solution to you and to support you. It can feel overwhelming to start a new relationship. It’s a lot of work. To get through it, we need to acknowledge that and talk about the support you need so we can help you get there.
A lot of organizations find themselves needing to quickly implement a new technology solution, especially around virtual interviewing. What advice do you have for the process?
I recommend starting by selecting a technology solution that can be flexible and ramp up and down quickly. A best-in-class technology solution includes integrations, but that adds time and complexity when a lot of talent acquisition leaders are looking for speed. We encourage people to be flexible. We’ll pilot a new solution in a certain way and then decide what integrations we need to do and where we can best spend our time and effort. You have to design the process around your immediate needs and then build it from there.
At PeopleScout, we use Affinix™, and that’s always my recommendation. When a client needs it, we can just turn on our virtual interviewing solution. I just did this with one of my clients, a healthcare organisation, where we had to get video interviewing up and running really quickly at the start of the pandemic. If you need that, we can do it.
Are there any final thoughts you’d like to leave us with?
Remember that change is always difficult. Having a good partner makes it better, but there will always be bumps in the road. Communicate. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Be vulnerable. Admit what’s working and what’s not. As an RPO provider, we are here as a consultant. Our job is to come forward with solutions to problems you might not even be able to articulate yet. So, be open. Implementation is hard, but it doesn’t need to be painful.
It’s been an uncertain year; we’re all facing a lot of uncertainty. If there’s one word everyone would like to retire at the end of 2020, it’s “uncertain.”
Unfortunately, uncertainty burnout creates neither more clarity nor more confidence. Therefore, talent leaders need to think long-term and take action to be ready for whatever lies ahead.
However, despite the challenges of 2020, there is a silver lining for employers. This year has created one of the best hiring markets that employers have seen in a long time. At the end of 2019, employers were facing skills shortages and record low unemployment; it was difficult to find candidates for almost any role. Now, there are a vast number of top-tier candidates who are looking for new jobs.
But, those in-demand candidates won’t stay on the market forever and the employers that start hiring now will have a competitive advantage: They’ll be able to capture those high-caliber workers first.
So, how do you get ahead? We asked PeopleScout Vice President of Global Growth Operations and Solution Design, Krista Sullivan de Torres, to talk about how employers can capitalize on the current talent market.
Why should employers take the risk of bringing on new employees during such an uncertain time?
For the past several years, we have been in a candidates’ market. But, unfortunately, due to the pandemic and its economic repercussions, a lot of organizations have had to let go of strong, high-performing employees. This is the first time in recent history where there has been so much outstanding talent on the market – making now a great time to hire.
This moment is a perfect opportunity for employers to look strategically at their own organizations to identify key roles that contribute to their long-term success and then fill those roles with top performers.
Employers that act quickly will have a competitive advantage because they’ll have the best people to guide their own recoveries. It can take a long time to onboard a new employee and get them up and running, especially in a strategic role. So, the sooner you start hiring, the sooner these new employees can add value to your organization.
Are there any common misconceptions you’re seeing about the current talent market?
I think there are two things. The first is about the quality of candidates on the market. Some leaders make the incorrect assumption that employees who are let go during layoffs are not top-performers. While that may have been the case for some organizations in the past, with this pandemic, we’ve seen organizations have to make the really tough decision to lay off or furlough some of their best performers.
The other misconception is that some talent leaders believe that, because there are so many candidates on the market, they don’t need to focus on candidate experience. Great candidates are always going to have options – no matter what the market looks like. It’s true that there is an abundance of candidates on the market now, but if you want to hire the best people, you still need to provide an exceptional candidate experience.
What should employers keep in mind about the candidates who are on the market right now?
It’s important to be mindful of the fact that candidates are also facing a lot of uncertainty. They want to know if they’re joining an organization where they will have the stability to stay and grow over a long period of time.
There is also a lot of fear of change, and passive candidates are less willing to take on new roles. As a talent leader, you should focus on having open, honest discussions with job candidates where you can address their concerns specifically.
What can employers do to ensure their hiring process is safe for everyone involved?
Job candidates are worried about the health and safety of their families. They don’t want to take a role or go through an interview process that would put anyone at risk. At PeopleScout, we’re seeing a lot of clients move toward a fully virtual model to address these concerns. In fact, between March and September of 2020, we saw a 900% increase in the use of virtual interviews by our clients.
Throughout the pandemic, we’ve seen people adapt quickly and grow more comfortable with video interviewing and other virtual processes. Depending on the role, we’re seeing companies add everything from on-demand audio screenings to live video interviews. I think this will stay with us for a long time.
Not every employer is going to be in the position to start hiring now. Where should they focus their efforts?
If your team isn’t in a position to make hires, focus on internal mobility and making sure your current teams stay engaged. This is especially important if your organization has gone through layoffs or furloughs that have left some employees with an increased workload. To support those workers, make sure that you have a clear communication plan around where the organization is now and what you anticipate for the future. Then, talk to employees about the existing opportunities in your organization that align with their own career goals. Find ways you can make adjustments or provide training now and, when new roles do open up, make sure you consider those internal candidates.
I also want to encourage employers not to lose track of their external candidates. This is a key time to focus on improving your candidate experience and building your talent pipelines. Be honest and clear about where you stand now and what your timeline is, but give them the opportunity to learn about your organization or even engage and build relationships with hiring managers. That way, when the time is right, it will be a quick process to reach out, move the candidate through the process and make an offer.
Are there any final thoughts you’d like to leave us with?
There are so many ways that organizations are dealing with this extraordinary time, and we can all learn from each other. This is a great time to reach out and network with other talent acquisition professionals or potentially engage with a partner to learn and share best practices. Because this is all still so new, it’s a great time to be talking to your peers, networking and seeking out best practices.
As organizations around the globe confront the challenges presented by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, even the most seasoned talent leaders find themselves in uncharted territory. We’re talking to our experts here at PeopleScout about the issues that are most pressing during this uncertain time.
We are focused on the safety of our employees and clients, friends, families and loved ones. However, it is important for many organizations to keep their talent acquisition functions moving – whether to provide essential services or to serve our communities by providing jobs.
In this episode, we talk about preparing for recovery. We don’t know exactly what the economic recovery will look like, but we do know that employers are facing a very different talent landscape than before the pandemic – and many have leaner talent acquisition teams.
Joining the podcast for this discussion is PeopleScout Client Portfolio Leader Chris Gould.
