Jun 14, 2023
5 Things an Employer Can Do To Adapt To Change
My recent poll on LinkedIn explored how people felt their employer adapted, dealt with, and implemented changes to the workplace over the last year.
The good news is that the results were positive with 69% of people being happy with and feeling their employers were brilliant and supportive through the last year. On the other hand, or 3 in 10 people (31%) were not happy with how their employers have reacted to the pandemic, either selecting ‘could have done better’ or suggesting that they were ‘not happy at all’. In such an unusual time where we had no idea how this would play out and government advice was changing regularly and quickly, the people who felt happy with how their employers have responded all have a couple of things in common – they were communicated with regularly! Even if there were no updates to be had just a simple “Hi, how are you?” made a huge difference, ensuring that they were asked for their input and views to help shape management decisions. Colleagues and friends here at Pro-Group gave some of their insights as to why they were happy with how Pro-Group reacted.
Here are 5 things an employer can do to adapt to Change:
Communication
At Pro-Group we have held company-wide weekly updates and monthly meetings, it’s good to stay connected and sharing facts and figures about operations. From day 1 of lockdown and working from home, Pro-Group had weekly updates and videos sent out to all employees sharing vital comms, good news, and positive messages. We are still all working from home and have continued to keep up these practices in addition to continuing the monthly company-wide meetings we have always held, highlighting good news, strong performances and updates across the group and teams. Individual teams have regular meetings, and even just a check-in with a cuppa teams meeting to keep everyone included and engaged.
Understanding
Everything has been turned on its head, some have had to become teachers, caregivers, nursery nurses, cooks and cleaners and everything in between, whilst working their usual role. All of this through lockdown and sporting a shaggy long hair cut, or even worse a home effort that went wrong! Our MD, Alison Humphries, has recently allowed for people to take time during the working day to deal with the things we have not had a chance to do in lockdown, everyone at Pro-Group can go and get their hair, nails, waxing, or whatever personal grooming they need to feel like themselves in working hours rather than trying to find a weekend appointment! It’s these little gestures that make a huge difference.
Continuity
Just because we are not in the office, does not mean you cannot incentivise and treat employees, accept the change and stay positive. In recruitment we are all used to the pub trips, lavish lunches, and meals out as well as fun team night incentives. We will not let Covid 19 stop us! We have been sending treat boxes (the brownies for Valentine’s were DELISH!) to our employee’s homes, instead of our quarterly ‘Prem Club’ our top performers have had Michelin starred food boxes delivered to their homes to enjoy with their families, and team nights out are now a team night in where the gin/cocktails/beer are delivered directly to them to enjoy a cold one with their team virtually.
Transparency and Inclusion
When we all left the office back in March 2020 for that first lockdown, we all thought we would be back and seeing each other in a couple of weeks. My oh my, how wrong we were! The senior leaders and Directors at Pro-Group made sure that in addition to communicating, they were including everyone from sales and support teams to have a say and getting a fresh and open perspective from everyone. We have had regular engagement surveys, polls and anonymous votes covering everything from how many days we want to be in the office in a post covid world, to having a say in wellbeing. We have even set up a newly formed employee forum to help improve Pro-Group and make it a better place – some of our best ideas have come from our staff and we want to keep it that way and hear their voices!
Continue Hiring
We have been presented with new, but exciting changes, and we are looking for people to join us on our journey and grow with us through this time of difference. Some of our markets are absolutely booming and the job market has more energy than ever with a 16% increase in vacancies in March we are now looking for experienced recruiter to join our specialist markets covering Finance, HR, Tax and Payroll then get in touch now to find out about our current vacancies and opportunities.
For more hiring advice or to explore the next steps in your recruitment career, speak to Loren on 020 7236 6358 or email loren@pro-recruitment.co.uk
