HUMAN RESOURCES & COVID
HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENTS ARE INVOLVING EMPLOYEES IN DECISIONS ABOUT WHAT WORKPLACES WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FUTURE
One area of business that is going to be forever changed by the pandemic is human resources . While it is now becoming safe for the majority of employees to return to the office , will they ?
Businesses throughout the Northeast Metro have been discussing what the future is going to look like for the past several months . During an HR Connections meeting in early 2021 , representatives from several Northeast Metro businesses discussed the results of surveys they had done to see how comfortable employees are with the idea of returning to the workplace .
Joy Vander Heiden from Ehlers Inc ., a Roseville-based Public Finance Advisory firm , is among the heads of human resources who regularly attends meetings . “ As vaccine development progressed we started talking as a management team about what it ’ s going to look like when this is behind us as far as getting employees back to work ,” said Vander Heiden , who helped craft a survey for Ehlers ’ employees to understand their needs and perspectives about the company ’ s future workplaces once state and local restrictions are lifted .
Employees were asked five multiple choice questions . There were two questions about what employees are doing today , two questions about what they see themselves doing in the future , and then an open ended question .
Overall , employees said they want to see a hybrid schedule in the future where they work a few days in the office and a few days from home . They also said having planned social gatherings would make coming into the office more valuable .
“ We were pleased to learn that the vast majority of our employees are on the same page . We only had a few individuals state they wanted to work 100 percent remote or 100 percent in the office . Most of our employees believe some kind of balance of hybrid will work best — being in the office maybe two or three days a week and working from home for the remainder of any given workweek ” said Vander Heiden , who thinks in the future employees will be afforded a higher degree of flexibility than was available pre-pandemic .
Ehlers isn ’ t the only company that has come to the realization that there is no going back . Hallberg Engineering , a mechanical and electrical engineering firm based in White Bear Lake , sent staff home to work when COVID first hit , leaving just a skeleton crew behind . Today , 10 to 25 percent of employees are back in the office , the rest of the employees are still working remotely .
A survey done by the HR Department indicates many want it to stay that
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