The sudden change in the culture of work has affected the overall health and well-being of employees. Stress, anxiety, and other mental health problems have always been present, which is not a new story. Organizations have always launched wellness programs and provided employees with security, health benefits, and flexibility to help them overcome their health problems. But the sudden epidemic of COVID-19 brought mental problems to front seat employees. When you have workers working in an office work environment, you at least understand their sensitivity, and this helps you a lot in solving problems. But with remote employees, communication routes are significantly compromised, leaving managers/ HR in the dark or at least less aware.

In a recent COVID-19 pulse survey, human resources professionals worldwide responded that workers’ health and well-being are a major concern.

The transition to a culture of work-from-home or remote working is not as smooth as it seems. Before the outbreak of COVID-19, less than 50% of companies had a remote work program. Banks, major industries, and many financial services companies have not really encouraged this. Now almost all of them are in a hurry to build strategies for remote work. This has led to many undiscovered problems.

Human resource managers try to create seamless routes and strategies to overcome the challenges it brings. Strategies are no longer projected periodically or in advance but in real-time. The focus on employee productivity and engagement has now shifted to immediate responses and diagnostics. Providing employees with the right tools and periodically collecting updates from them from time to time to untangle the intricacies and offer support is much needed at this point.

Communication is another big challenge that is on the priority list. Communication itself is a critical aspect to assess whether the workforce works remotely or not. Without the proper communication channels, it becomes difficult to manage the workforce. The COVID-19 crisis has led to HR representatives looking for the right tools to suit their culture. While tools such as Slack, Asana, Google Meet, or Zoom are commonly used to meet the workforce’s needs, it is certainly not enough to find them all on the same page.

Uncertainty wreaks havoc on anyone. The terrible feeling of not knowing what the future holds or the measures that need to be taken to support organizational operations is a hefty challenge. We are all more or less affected by uncertainty. Employees are mentally affected without knowing their future, and HR teams are trying to reconcile everything. Responding quickly to the crisis and developing effective measures and strategies for everyone, including themselves as HR professionals, becomes a bit of a concern that we need to acknowledge to face the challenges put forth.