How will Covid-19 affect the nature of work?

What will be the lasting effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the nature of work? Global Career Company’s Tadiwanashe Mandivenga looks at what we have learned over the last year and what we can expect going forward

The year 2021 started off on a positive note with people and businesses eager to have a better year than the last. As we start to see a light at the end of the tunnel with lockdowns and restrictions easing up and vaccines being rolled out, we can look forward to things returning to some degree of normalcy slowly but surely.

That being said, this edition of the Talent Agenda Supplement explores the lingering effects of the pandemic by getting insights into the initiatives that have been put in place to support employees and lead effectively amidst uncertainty. It also looks into diversity and inclusion in the workplace and assesses whether the agenda was derailed as a result of the pandemic. What has slowed down, what has sped up, what has changed and where do businesses find themselves halfway through the new year?

Leadership

Leadership was truly put to the test during the past year as the world experienced a global pandemic that has had significant effects on the economy and employment. As a result of the all the uncertainty and the drastic change in the way work had to be carried out, leaders needed to depend on their soft skills to effectively guide their people and organisations through this period. Communication, flexibility, emotional awareness and interpersonal skills were crucial and were the differentiator between the good leaders and the bad leaders.

“It has made us concentrate more on things that are or should be core skills and requirements of leadership,” says Jonathan Wheeler, Regional Director MEA at TMF Group. “For example, communication. Dealing with people working remotely during an uncertain period of time requires a lot more communication than before.”

The employee experience

This was an area in which we saw a complete change. Internal operations had to be carried out online and interaction with customers/clients was limited to being mainly digital. Limited physical interaction with other people combined with a sense of job insecurity and anxiety as well as the lack of distinction between home and work life quickly began to take its toll. As a result, health and wellbeing became of utmost importance to ensure that people felt supported and valued.

A lot of organisations put initiatives in place to ensure that help and support were always available to their people in the form of counselling, equipment to help them to complete their tasks from home or even monthly online social events to maintain the culture and morale. The empathy demonstrated by leaders and the creativity of their teams has gone a long way in making their people feel less anxious, have a renewed sense of determination and improving teamwork and morale.

When looking at the four fundamentals of employee experience, which are purpose, people, rewards and how work is done, Matthew McDonnell, Senior Consultant at Willis Towers Watson found that purpose and people scored incredibly well.

This makes evident that rather than people feeling more isolated they actually ended up connecting with and seeing colleagues more than before. Being able to connect with colleagues created quite a positive experience for people and improved engagement.

Diversity

Many thought that there was a very high chance that the diversity agenda would be derailed or slowed down due to the pandemic. On the contrary, the conversation surrounding it has actually gained momentum and we can see positive, measurable and tangible changes being made, particularly in terms of having more of a gender-balanced workforce.

This also applies in industries that were traditionally male dominated such as the finance, technology and manufacturing sectors, where we now have more women being employed and also occupying positions in senior leadership roles. However, we must not forget that diversity and inclusion go beyond gender and race, but also applies to age, religion, sexual orientation and those who are differently abled, to name a few. More needs to be done to be inclusive of these other groups in order for organisations to be truly diverse and inclusive.

“Research has shown that gender balanced teams deliver much higher returns, so what’s there not to love. That conversation must continue,” says Busola Alofe, Registrar/CEO at CIPM Nigeria. “Another area of importance is disability inclusion. People with different abilities are a very versatile and capable group of talent that I don’t think the world has tapped into enough. We need to have a culture of trying to understand the challenges that different people face in the workplace and making it an environment that caters to the needs of these different groups.”

The future of work

As can be expected, the future of work will involve increased dependence on and use of technology and digital capabilities. Having become accustomed to working

remotely and online while also remaining productive, it is likely that we will see a hybrid model of working in the future. There will also be an increase in demand for technology related roles and as such, tech savvy people with strong soft skills will be strong candidates going forward. In addition, automation has helped to facilitate business continuity, helping with routine/repetitive tasks to lighten the workload for people or allow them to focus on more important tasks. Going forward, as technological advances continue to be made, our adoption of it will increase.

“In the future there will still be faceto-face meetings, but the shift is definitely towards digital,” says Stéphane Wajskop, CEO, Careers International, a partner of Global Career Company. “People now have the tools, are used to them and find them to be very efficient. Granted, it is less effective from a social perspective because people want to see each other from time to time, but there will definitely be a healthy mix of virtual and face-to-face working.”

“Language skills and soft skills – particularly when it comes to communication – will be key,” says Cédric Filet, Founder & CEO of Aldelia, a partner of Global Career Company. “The best opportunities on the continent are in the tech sector, from front-end developers and data scientists, to designers and analysts. Tech. is not only for technology companies – it is needed in all sectors. There are also great opportunities in the hospitality and education industries.”

The last year has taught us a lot about leadership, highlighting that great leaders are those who lead with empathy. We saw a complete transformation in the employee experience, making it evident that as long as people are the main priority of organisations and are supported accordingly, engagement and productivity will be a natural result. We know that diversity is important and that it generates results, but we need to be inclusive of other areas beyond gender and race and actively work towards this.

Finally, technology, ever the hero, made work, communication, training and business growth possible and in some cases, easier. This edition of the Talent Agenda Supplement will explore these topics in further detail and provide insights from some of Africa’s leading organisations and experts in human capital as we get a better understanding of how businesses have navigated through this last year. ■

The last year has taught us a lot about leadership, highlighting that great leaders are those who lead with empathy