How Corona Has Changed the Work of HR Managers

The Corona crisis has banished many HR managers to the home office. From there they had to continue the productive daily business. But how did the HR professionals fare in their own four walls? - Three HR managers describe how the Corona restrictions have changed you and your work.

A recruiter without contacts? It's like a team leader without a team. Or like the head of a one-man company. Until recently, it was completely unthinkable for HR professionals to do their job alone in the home office. After all, one of the core tasks of every HR professional is to work with and for people. A pat on the back here, a smile there. A confidential one-to-one conversation, not in cyberspace, but in the good, old, real world, even in a spacious conference room. Where there are other things besides voice, clothing, and appearance: a nervous bobbing with the foot or the connection of a handshake.

Everything came to an end suddenly when the corona crisis broke out in the USA in spring 2020. Due to the pandemic, HR professionals found themselves in a new reality from one day to the next. No more direct conversations. No spontaneous meetings with colleagues in the office corridor. The work now took place exclusively digitally at home - a challenge for human resource management. "The first few days in the home office were characterized by many questions and uncertainties," says Tanja Gluding looking back.

The home office offers space for rest and concentration

The HR manager of the CELLS Group had already worked in the home office from time to time before Corona and had good experiences with it. However - and Gliding knows this from years of experience - remote work is not suitable for all areas of work that arise in human resources. The home office was always helpful, according to the HR expert, “when it was important to complete tasks that required a lot of concentration and calm, such as working out new concepts”. Calm and concentration - positive factors, of which there are indeed more in the quiet home than in the constantly noisy office.

For Laura Nagelschmidt, too, the silence is the great advantage of the home office. Nagelschmidt is HR Officer at Troy Chemie in Hanover. For her, too, working from home is unbeatable when it comes to tasks that require her to concentrate and focus over a longer period of time. "Process descriptions or research on specific topics", says the HR manager, can be better managed at home.

While many employees suddenly had to switch to the home office when the Corona crisis broke out, Troy Chemie was well prepared for this scenario. "We knew that we would be working from home at some point in the next few weeks," remembers Nagelschmidt. “The question was when. In the human resources department, for example, at the request of our supervisor, we took the laptop home with us every evening if we couldn't have come to the office the next day. "

Tanja Gluding found the change to remote work in her Berlin company just as smooth: “We were able to prepare for it. On the one hand, we provided our employees with the necessary IT equipment and, on the other hand, we tried to adequately communicate the company's crisis strategy. ”When asked about the greatest challenge in the home office, Gliding says:“ In the role of HR, you have to do it accordingly Dealing with one's own uncertainty and offering employees as much clarity and stability as possible. That was the biggest challenge. "

The downsides of remote work

For Torsten Meyering, Team Leader Human Resources at virtual minds in Freiburg, Corona was a curse and a blessing. “I was enthusiastic about the flexibility and creativity of our teams. Within a very short time, for example, the gaming servers of one of our subsidiaries were converted to set up a virtual office with video chat rooms. ”But there were also downsides:“ Our classic onboarding process couldn't take place as usual. Some new employees were unable to travel to the USA and have so far been working from their home countries. Of course, this makes it difficult to integrate new colleagues quickly and smoothly, who can initially only get to know their team virtually. "

HR is traditionally the link between the workforce and management level. In addition to economic know-how, you need a feeling for dealing with company policy, sensitivities, wishes, fears, and personal crises of employees. In other words, it is about psychology, and that, in turn, requires direct unfiltered communication.

Good HR work requires a direct exchange

“Human resource management is basically relationship management,” says Gliding. “And good HR work is only possible in direct exchange with employees. The exchange can of course also take place digitally over a certain period of time, but basically, you can find out more about current moods and problems if you are physically present and spontaneously available as a contact person between the door and the hinge. In the home office, you can work out new concepts and carry out routine operational work. But I doubt that good HR management can only work from home. "

Laura Nagelschmidt comes to a similar conclusion: “It is often easier to go to a colleague's office and talk things through. That way, misunderstandings can often be avoided. ”On the other hand, it is different in one's own four walls:“ In the home office, I sit at the desk on Mondays and don't speak to anyone until the first meeting of the day is due. ”The arrangement with colleagues and telephone calls with external parties are Definitely more difficult in the home office.

The home office is not a permanent solution for HR. But as far as the rest of the workforce is concerned, it has been shown that remote work does not lead to a drop in productivity, as many companies fear. According to Tanja Gliding, the employees performed their work in the home office to the same extent as in the office. The whole thing went so well that the company is now looking to break new ground. “We are currently working on a mobile office policy and would like to give our employees more freedom. The trust in their own motivation, responsibility, discipline, and self-organization of our employees has increased. The point of view has changed as a result of the crisis. ”According to Gliding, the“ forced digitization ”was“ the last push ”to realize that home offices were working well.

But even if the trust in the employees increases, a home office is not easily implemented in some industries. For example at Troy Chemie. “We have laboratories and production sites. The various departments work closely together. Just working together online doesn't work in the long run, ”says Laura Nagelschmidt.

Conclusion

In all three cases, the HR departments, but also the company as a whole, we're able to “outsource” their workforce to the home office quickly and with relatively little friction. Some areas, such as onboarding, naturally function suboptimally from the home office - HR managers want to look at the new employees straight in the eyes. Nevertheless, the Corona crisis has dispelled one prejudice: that employees are less productive in the home office. Where remote work is possible, the work gets done. Whether at home or in the office. Handy with task management software will make HR managers' work more effective even during work from home.