Though most people would do their best in leaving their personal life and issues at home to focus solely on their work responsibilities, the reality is not quite that simple. It’s not possible to subdivide our lives into neat sections. All of us occasionally find ourselves with personal matters which distract us from work, most especially in the modern work culture.
With the recent COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve witnessed what a few months can make. Nobody would’ve predicted how a pandemic will impact businesses and force overnight digital transformation for remote work. The businesses that have survived understand that empowering and managing employees effectively, ensuring their growth, happiness, and performance, truly matters.
Ways Human Resource (HR) Leaders Rebuild Employee Morale
The office-centered Human Resource playbook of the years past has become obsolete. So, what should fast-growth businesses in the UAE and across the globe do to encourage employees in doing their best work and improve profitability?
Suspend all non-compete agreements
They are often ignored in several jurisdictions across the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other top labor destinations. However, there are those that still mandate employees to comply with the terms from standing non-compete agreements. More often than not, they’re unreasonably restrictive, most especially to the lower-level staff. What you don’t want is to retain employees and continue paying them even when they’re no longer serving your business for poor performance. Don’t hinder them from looking for other opportunities provided that you can also retain confidential information within your organization.
Read also: How to sustain business growth in the UAE
Create an agile, internally mobile workforce
HR departments of succeeding businesses despite the coronavirus pandemic encourage their managers in listing projects to get assistance from other departments, as well as ambitious employees that want to perform. Help people break from the narrow job descriptions. HR leaders allow people in moving forward in their individual careers. Employee performance can be boosted when the employees are coached on their career pathways in the company. Don’t forget to follow up with leaders and managers to pave the paths proactively.
Track progress with the use of performance management solutions which create ongoing conversations between employees, leadership, HR, and managers. This will help give visibility, as well as align the expectations of everyone. Include topics such as areas for development, promotions, raises, career path progression, and job performance. Give instant feedback, if possible, then log it to follow up on the set schedule in order to track and ensure progress.
Be authentic
Create an employee-driven brand as an employer in the UAE. Remember to be authentic as well. Help your employees be the ambassadors of your business by doing things right consistently. Treat everyone with kindness and respect. They’ll also pay you back through better performance.
Be flexible
Make sure that your systems, including onboarding, benefits, payroll, and messaging, are all user-friendly. Then, collect and report data for making informed business decisions. APIs will be your new best friends. Don’t forget to ensure that your HR is tied to your adopted financial model.
Get employees involved
Get employees to record their playbooks and processes on video for an internal Wiki. Allowing them to contribute on a regular basis will allow them to see for themselves that they’re needed within the organization.
Hire diverse staff
As a profitability driver and core principle, work on developing a more inclusive and diverse workplace. This can be through actively promoting, hiring, and opening positions for the minority. Hire for an alignment of culture rather than experience and skills only. Then, help diverse talent talk about their personal stories on camera.
Re-imagine employees’ work experience
Build or rebuild the employee experience to optimize every single part. This can include the payroll and benefits experience, onboarding experience, and candidate recruitment experience. Open anonymous channels for people to communicate. Allow them to give instant feedback. Other areas where you can improve on or adopt are employee engagement surveys, employee mentorship groups, standardized promotions, total compensation bands, alumni programs, exit interviews, internal mobility programs, relevant internal recognition and rewards, and quarterly performance evaluations.
Read also: Benefits of Outsourcing Accounting Services in Dubai
It’s time for HR leaders to get real
Authenticity has become more important than ever for managers and leaders. With the organizational changes occurring, vacations being canceled, flights blocked, schools closed, everyone’s definitely hurting. Acknowledging the pain of everyone within the organization is necessary for an HR department. In order to ensure a successful rebuilding of employee performance, growth, and morale, treat employees like adults.
Offer kind words and help the employees improve as humans and professionals without waiting for the reviews. Then, intervene as needed to pick up someone, give time off, clear up confusion, and help in resolving logistical issues.
Any organization benefits from an effective and efficient HR department. But, it shouldn’t be overly costly and painful for the company’s bottom line. If you’re considering outsourcing HR functions in Dubai, UAE, contact us here in FAR Consulting Middle East today!
