Agile HR: Adapting HR Practices to the Fast-Paced Business Environment

The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has brought about functional changes in organizations. It presented difficulties and ambiguities for Human Resource Management (HRM) professionals to deal with in terms of how organizations ran and how work relationships were managed. Because of this, the firm experienced difficulties, and the HR practitioners were required to devise inventive solutions so that the company could continue operating normally. It was very necessary to provide staff with assistance in accepting and coping with the extraordinary disaster.

Moris Media, the leading digital marketing agency in India, adopted a hybrid working model even before it became a new normal during the global pandemic and has been very agile in adopting new practices that can match the fast evolving needs of today’s business environment.

During the pandemic, the human resources (HR) function has undoubtedly played the most important role in the shift towards a new paradigm in the work environment. It was vital to guarantee that the organization and its people were ready to adjust to the new normal, so maintaining business continuity. This was accomplished by ensuring that the organization and its people were prepared. A shift took place, both in terms of the capabilities and the priorities, of the HR department. During the global pandemic, most organisations were according the highest importance towards ensuring that their employees not only remained physically fit but also ensured that their emotional challenges were properly addressed. Once the organisations began opening their offices and welcoming their workers back, there was another significant adjustment in the HR approach that took place.

Even if a large number of new offices have built, the focus of conversation has shifted to selecting an appropriate work arrangement, such as working from home or using a hybrid model. Taking into account the circumstances, working from a distant location is here to stay. The HR professionals will now be needed to concentrate on leveraging technology that assist build a common platform for individuals operating in diverse geographical locations to cooperate in order to meet this new requirement. The Human Resources department will prioritize meeting the need for automation, digital and virtual collaboration tools, and employee engagement software.

Even in the post-Covid world, decision-making that is informed by data will continue to be useful and valuable. In order to accurately anticipate the size of the workforce they will need; the HR department should keep relying on analytics. It is able to determine the solutions for people management and development that may assist in meeting the problems of the post-Covid-19 workforce and costs. In addition to this, it will make it possible for companies to better optimize the outcomes and save expenditures.

During the epidemic, there were reductions in both salaries and hours worked. The need of acquiring new skills and improving one's existing ones has become critical. The previous emphasis on critical roles has been replaced with an emphasis on key talents. Rather of focusing on training employees for a particular function, the Learning and Development department will now be forced to put more of an emphasis on the importance of encouraging workers to build key abilities that can be used to a variety of other avenues for career advancement. As a result of the changing work arrangements, the Human Resources department will also focus their attention on restructuring the organization. The future perspective calls for developing resilient organisations that can handle unpredictable situations in an efficient manner. The roles and the structures need to be developed around the goals so that they are more flexible and adaptable. This will need training and knowledge that is transferable across different functional areas.

Despite all of these new focus areas, the HR department must continue to place a significant emphasis on the employee experience. Companies can substantially benefit from creating employee experience strategies that not only address their physical health and safety issues but also prioritise their emotional well-being through an all-inclusive approach. This will help both in employee retention and attracting new talents.

The developing tendencies and priority areas within HR provide insight on the competencies that management students will need to successfully carry out their work in the future. Flexibility can help them respond quickly to changes in the highly dynamic environment of modern times. In the world of business, we see agile organizations as being ones that are both successful and competitive. In a similar vein, management students, regardless of the area in which they work or the role they do, will be expected to demonstrate agility in their professional lives. In the scenario that takes place after COVID-19, the organizations will make significant use of the data and technology at their disposal. As a result, it is very necessary to place an emphasis on the management of the tools and technologies. The knowledge and abilities that span many functional areas will be necessary for the organization. Students majoring in HR management will need to exercise their creative and imaginative sides in order to adapt the components of the HR lifecycle to the requirements of the organizations they work for.