The Covid-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented unemployment levels, and as it continues to delay the reopening of business, employment rates are expected to recover more slowly than initially expected. However, in turbulent times temporary, contingent, and
independent workers tend to grow both due to individuals need to create a revenue flow but also due to hiring organisations looking for more flexibility.
While everyone was caught by surprise by this pandemic, and the initial phase led many companies and freelancers to stop and consider their next steps. We are seeing that freelancers are amongst the first to reinvent themselves and start the path to recovery.
This reinvention of the freelancers is seen particularly within the startups targeting them such as Lili, Fiverr and HoneyBook (disclosure: Citi is a HoneyBook investor).
The current pandemic and its effects on the workplace are likely to stay for the foreseeable future. In fact, in a survey by Fortune, 26% of the Fortune 500 CEO's stated that they will never get back to over 90% of the workforce working from the office.
Over 50% of those CEO’s further thought they would never return to the amount of travel they did pre pandemic. This sentiment reinforces our belief that some of the changes we are experiencing will have long lasting effects and companies need to ensure they
have the tools required to face this new reality.
Covid-19’s ramifications are likely to influence people and businesses in different ways. In a 2016 McKinsey survey, we saw that 1 in 6 gainfully employed people (in the US and the EU) would prefer to be self-employed. Of the people that already worked independently
over half were earning “supplemental earning” (side gigs), but over two thirds said they were doing this out of choice, not financial necessity.
Along with a change in how we work and employ people there is also a change in where and how we engage and work with our employees currently on the payroll. The pandemic has led us to take a critical look inter alia at culture, recruitment, onboarding, management
& leadership.
Covid-19’s first workplace victim: Corporate Culture
Remote corporate culture is challenging. At the start of the pandemic, people as well as organisations were under stress. We see that employers, like Citi, who supported their employees and stood by them during the crisis despite the financial challenges
have gained tremendous appreciation from their employees. However, it has also forced us to rethink how we engage with our employees and maintain the ‘soft’ interactions that are key in maintaining a healthy work environment. Employers need to find ways to
emulate the casual chat around ‘the watercooler’ and that is not simple over video conferencing. Corporations have turned to having online ‘tea-time’, yoga classes and more.
Culture, however, is not limited to existing employees. In fact, it starts at the interview stage, through onboarding and all the way to BAU employment. Employers will need to address the culture challenges of each of those stages and it is of critical importance
for new or newer employees. From a technology point of view, we are starting to see solutions tailored to these unique challenges.
The workforce of the future may also change from a demographic point of view. Employers could recruit the person that best fits their needs rather than the best person that lives in their vicinity – if we are working remotely does it matter where we are?
For current employees that were marginalised due to being remote, Covid-19 may be the ultimate equaliser with physical distance becoming less relevant.
Women who had opted out of the workforce because they needed more flexibility, may find the current atmosphere has made their needs more acceptable and manageable. However, we are seeing this go in both directions as some women feel they have more time with
their families, this is typically for couples that split time spent looking after children in a manner that enables both spouses to lead a successful career. There are also indications that women’s productivity has been impacted more greatly than men’s as
traditional roles have taken on a bigger part of day to day life due to homeschooling,
notably in families with young children.
How we’re creating digital watercooler chats
Communication has of course been front and centre in this pandemic. There are many different options but it is important to understand what works best for your employees and your customers – and it may well be more than one tool. Video conferencing usage
grew at a rapid rate due to Covid-19 and may be the best suited solution for certain types of communications – such as team meetings or client calls but there may be other solutions that may be better suited for other types of corporate communication.
Some examples that come to mind are Kaltura as a video management platform and Ment.io for content driven conversations vs chronological ones. In some cases, bots like Voca.ai may alleviate pressure on understaffed call centres, improving the relevance of
engagements and length of time spent on the phone.
When it comes to technology that helps the financial side of your organisation, options abound to simplify, digitise and streamline your work. You can pay salaries and benefits to your employees – with Papaya Global, manage expenses with Pleo, Tipalti, Stampli
or Kred and ensure you get your VAT reimbursed with Vatbox. You can make and receive payments with Rapyd or Payoneer to companies you contract with around the world.
Another interesting result of the post COVID-19 world is that the new(er) solutions that we have seen were originally targeting SMBs, whereas firms are now finding themselves working with enterprises as they look at the midmarket more flexible solutions.
This may be due to the fact that SMBs are harder hit than larger companies with more money in their coffers, but it may also be due to the fact larger companies have found themselves in need of agile, digital solutions instead of the tried and true solutions
that rely on physical presence.
This drive to simplicity is omnipresent as we adjust to this new reality. From virtual document signatures, to simplified recruitment solutions, opportunities abound to revisit systems and methodologies to improve the digital experience.
Friend or Foe, Covid-19 will not be defied
In many ways, Covid-19 has been a positive engine of innovation and change. Entire industries are forced to re-evaluate what they have in place and how they could do better. One of those areas is remote employee access. As the numbers of employees needing
to work from home has skyrocketed, employers needed quick and safe solutions. Silverfort (disclosure: Siverfort is a Citi portfolio company) saw a sharp increase in inbound requests for their network based adaptive multi-factor authentication solutions. They
have been able to empower many organisations to shift to work from home.
We will all need to continue to change the way we work and the technology choices we make will guide the manner in which we experience the new reality. Covid-19 has proven what we already knew: Companies that embrace change and adapt to the various technological
solutions will be able to grow, those that do not, will find their resilience challenged in a world that is becoming ever more virtual.