COVID-19 and HR's Wellbeing report
COVID-19 has increased the workload of HR professionals, leading to a negative impact on their health and wellbeing. Considering HR is the department in charge of maintaining organisational wellbeing, this is a worrying sign. Unable to maintain their own wellbeing results in an increase in stress, ultimately leading to burnout.
In partnership with Dr. John Molineux FCPHR of Deakin University and Dr. Adam Fraser CSP, we surveyed 150 HR leaders between the 22 June and 1 July 2020, on their ongoing experiences resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
SUMMARY
Globally, HR has been at the centre of the organisational response to COVID-19; from the beginning to the present day. This research supports a number of trends that AHRI has observed throughout the pandemic, both through feedback from individual members and previous research.
A recurring theme has been the immense workloads that HR practitioners have faced, combined with the loss of connection that long periods of full-time remote working has created. AHRI has consistently asked ‘who is looking after HR as they look after the organisation’, and this research makes this question even more pertinent.
An interesting finding of the research is that the vast majority of people are managing to effectively communicate and connect with others virtually. However, that is not necessarily translating into them feeling connected to their team, with a large percentage missing physical connection and a high percentage feeling isolated from their team.
We note the considerable workload that HR practitioners were under trying to organise remote work, managing downsizing and negotiating JobKeeper in their organisations. With much of that now under some control, the attention of HR needs to move to supporting performance management in remote working situations.
With nearly half of respondents stating their organisation is not very capable of managing the performance of remote workers, it is imperative that HR managers understand and share best practice to create effective performance systems, policies, guidelines and training to support their managers.
The red flag in this research is the huge volumes of work HR professionals are having to manage, which reflects how important HR is during a crisis. Unfortunately, a large percentage of HR professionals are also feeling like they cannot cope with the demands of their role. This increased pressure is already having an impact on mental health and wellbeing with many reporting high levels of fatigue and exhaustion, as well as lower than expected scores around happiness in their job and their life being close to ideal.
The changes that this pandemic has wrought means HR will remain central to the workplaces of the future, with individual HR practitioners key to organisational strategy development, and executive and board decision making. For the HR profession, the implications of this report are varied – it’s clear the role of the
HR practitioner has been amplified and shifted toward redesigning work and workplaces as well as supporting the shift away from an ‘attendance’ culture towards a ‘performance’ culture to provide benefits for the organisation’s efficiency and effectiveness. However, HR practitioners will also need to continue to focus on their own wellbeing.
As we experience further changes to the external environment, HR practitioners will need to focus on and strengthen their own competencies in order to continue to guide and shape their organisations, their people and their culture.
For AHRI’s part, we intend to support them on this journey as they shape the future of their profession and our workplaces.
Sarah McCann-Bartlett
Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director,
Australian HR Institute
Dr. John Molineux FCPHR
Senior Lecturer in HRM, Deakin University
Dr Adam Fraser
Founder and director of e-Lab
For media enquiries, please contact:
Julie McNamara
Media Specialist, Mahlab
[email protected]
0419 595 688