HR Rebooted: Balancing PR agency business goals with innovative workforce strategies
As a new workplace model has emerged, so have the rules of engagement. PR agencies are no exception with business coming to a complete halt. For agency leadership, it’s a time for re-invention, business survival, client continuity, and the need to demonstrate a new type of value add. For HR professionals, there’s a rethink on workforce strategies, encompassing: composition, compensation and performance. For the individual, work from home demands discipline, self-motivation and re-learn how to function effectively in a virtual team.
Reboot
Abhishek Shankar, National HR Director, Avian-WE commented: “The biggest pandemic lesson learned, take nothing for granted. We’re having to almost completely re-write the HR handbook with new chapters as new management routines and rituals have emerged. Our role as business leaders has been to support the business recovery process and toward sustainable operations with optimism and transparency.” Vishal Gera, Lead- HR , Archetype, added, “Our primary focus has been to preserve, cherish and enhance the overall cultural fabric of the organization at a time of uncertainty. So we’ve completely recalibrated our people processes to move into a virtual scenario, right from hiring, onboarding to engagement channels.”
‘Zoomed’ out
There is no doubt that most agencies have successfully transitioned but managing the next stage of ‘lockdown’ has posed new challenges. Virtual town halls, company meets, games and jamming sessions have their obvious limitations and most people are ‘zoomed’ out.
Archetype’s Gera, adds, “WFH was not new to us, it’s been part of an Asia strategy pre-lockdown. It’s definitely played it’s part but people need to feel connected again, especially the younger age groups. There’s no substitute to the human connect for personal development, employee well-being and assimilating organisation culture. So, in this next phase we’re looking to build a hybrid work model, combining physical and digital infrastructure to accommodate both individuals and teams needing to come together.”
The obvious WFH benefits have been outweighed by issues of social isolation, extended work hours, morale and consistent performance. Abhishek Pandey, remarked, “As office returns have been extended due to safety concerns, home working is impacting employee happiness. Traditional channels to vent and share anxieties via office friends and colleagues has disappeared, and so we’ve been forced to recognise a new dimension to health and mental well-being and provide appropriate support, as and when required.”
Hiring and upskilling
Focussed on talent and hiring, Girish Balachandran, Managing Partner, On Purpose, commented: “Our clients want the best talent, so we’ve shifted to rethink how we staff assignments. Remote working has led to a realisation and a greater confidence to search and attract talent from anywhere across India or even globally. Suddenly there are no boundaries to talent anymore. It’s now a false notion that all talent needs to physically attend the office to be part of a team.“
On mentorships and inductions, Shankar, cites the specific challenge when hiring new graduate freshers, “Online inductions don’t adequately replicate proper exposure to an organisation’s culture and values. First impressions and role models matter, so with new recruits not being able to meet their respective teams face to face, we’re having to work harder to plug that gap with assigned mentors and buddies.”
Performance, performance
While this moment has not seen an immediate impact on productivity, it’s not a guaranteed long term outcome. With successive months of separation between agency managers, teams and individuals, there’s a good chance of learning vacuums and skills disparities appearing – impacting consistent service delivery. To balance this shortfall, some agencies have wholeheartedly adopted digital learning platforms, such as Udemy and Linkedin, whilst others have gone further and set mandatory monthly upskilling targets for all staff.
A hybrid work model future is now an almost sure reality and HR pros are having to work furiously to adapt and innovate to ensure that team and ultimately agency performance does not suffer.
About the author-
Sandeep Kalsi, CEO, SKRIBE