Preparing to attract, develop and retain talent for a New Normal and business growth – a golden opportunity for human resources

Mathias Reindl and Marc Deschamps

HansenBeck™ observes market challenges that employees and organizations face to survive and continue to remain competitive after the global Covid-19 pandemic outbreak.

As many businesses are now coming out of Covid-19 crisis mode, they find themselves entering recovery and growth. We’ve found in our conversations with human resources (HR) experts and leaders that, in order to gain and sustain recovery and growth, it’s of the utmost importance to strategically attract, develop and retain employees. At the same time, when talking with employees attending our leadership or sales training and development initiatives, we hear that they’re concerned about the way businesses underestimate and underrate employee challenges (i.e., mental health, well-being etc.) and needs, individually and collectively. How has this happened, and what consequences can this have, both for employees and businesses?

To attract and retain talent, post-pandemic, organisations must come to the realisation that they should simultaneously address an individual’s, their business’, and the collective needs to develop more proactively.

Recognising the challenges on both sides during the pandemic, and appreciating the irreversible, yet often positive changes of the transition to the New Normal, will allow a constructive dialogue and collaborative approach led by HR towards a pragmatic restart.

There are two good reasons for this: first, increasing their company’s resilience by having a better prepared workforce, and second, to retain newly hired, as well as experienced, staff members. Not achieving either of the two will certainly come at a high cost, deterring imminent and future growth.

All HansenBeck™ locations worldwide have observed that many newly-hired or retained employees feel like survivors of the recent crisis, while companies need to focus on restructuring efforts to keep cashflows under control. Ultimately, helping to guarantee survival and to stay competitive, companies and their HR departments must recognise that now is the time for post-pandemic reconciliation. It requires a compassionate approach when interacting with their employees, before they disengage from their employers and respond to increasingly attractive job opportunities elsewhere.

The pandemic has led to a halt in most training and development initiatives. This halt in initiatives has also led to a staff perception that their company simply isn’t investing in them and their professional progress. At the same time, employees have learnt their own different ways of working and how to use collaboration tools better, allowing for a more efficient use of their time. Their expectation is to get the best of both worlds. The question is, how can businesses address these changes in expectations, while implementing a more strategic view to attract, develop and retain their workforce that effectively engages them in the business?

Recognising the challenges on both sides during the pandemic, and appreciating the irreversible, yet often positive changes of the transition to the New Normal, will allow a constructive dialogue and collaborative approach led by HR towards a pragmatic restart.

The commitment to return to investing in workforce development, in both technical and interpersonal skills, can and should be recognised as a change for the better to avoid the otherwise looming and predictable fluctuation damages as well as increase business growth.

People are a business’s power! It’s now time to return to investing in people. Employees don’t just need technical skills and knowledge about matters of compliance and security. They also need the opportunity to improve their interpersonal interaction with various stakeholders. This provides HR with a golden opportunity to lead a path forward for them, and for external providers to team up and jointly develop their teams. This collaboration shows genuine commitment by an organisation to invest in, and support an employee’s growth expertise and career development. By doing so, HR will champion the strategic steps to attract, develop, and retain quality employees.

Together, we grow!

Contact details: Mathias Reindl Managing Director Southeast Asia Hansen Beck (Thailand) Limited +66 64 604 0960 mathias.reindl@hansenbeck.com www.hansenbeck.com