If you are a business leader, you need to not only reflect on what has changed, but more importantly rethink the way your business operates in order to recover. Recovery will not be static; it will be gradual, and it may be unpredictable so preparing for the ups and downs is essential.

We simply cannot return to the old ways of doing business, so a reinvention of the workplace and practices are critical. Change can be unsettling for some while exciting for others. Some people have adapted well to working remotely while others have loathed it, itching to return to the office. Finding a balance or the ‘turn off switch’ has been difficult, resulting in many employees working longer hours when working from home, feeling overworked and essentially leading to burnout. Looking at the positives, COVID 19 has been a trailblazing catalyst for change and has given corporates an enormous opportunity to ‘kill the sacred cow’ and rethink processes.

How successfully businesses do this could even redefine their brand and affect the wellbeing of their survivors – their employees.

With a hybrid remote / office workforce, mutual trust in the workplace is vital and can be achieved through open internal communication, setting boundaries and expectations, respecting employees and by living and breathing the employer’s values. Embedded trust builds credibility and engagement and without this recovery will be impossible.

Success to an employee might mean retaining their job but to a business leader it could mean low attrition, a happy well-balanced workforce, engaged staff, growth / increased revenue leading to a healthy culture. Culture is incredibly important, as it defines brand identity and helps retain employees. Being connected to the mission and rebooting, resetting, and restoring, has to be a priority.

 Here at people2people, we have taken all of this on board, ditched the “we’ve always done it this way” mentality and used 2020 as a catalyst for positive change and challenged every step of the recruitment process. Although this phrase is often made with good intentions, we believe recovery and growth cannot be achieved without reworking and revamping processes.

 In our Sydney office, we have renovated and repurposed our office to include a café, multiple breakout areas and a podcast room promoting internal collaboration. All of our employees have new individual (work) flexibility arrangements, which include a combination of hybrid remote / office routines to suit their needs, which will foster a dynamic way of working and employee wellbeing. On the process side, virtual interviews have been implemented promoting speed and accelerating the recruitment lifecycle, resulting in more job seekers finding new work.New Paragraph

Embracing change, promoting a healthy work-life balance, embedding trust, and rebuilding workplace culture, has to be a priority and will be the ‘x-factor’ to retaining and attracting talent, post-2020.