HUMAN RESOURCES

Remote working:

Bringing the human back into Human Resources

The last year has seen organisations across the board rapidly switch to remote working. Although this mass migration went reasonably well, there were a few pitfalls that business leaders had to consider. After all, the implementation of remote working across an entire organisation is more complicated and indepth than most of us realise. To be successful in the long term, a supportive, structured, and human-centric approach is required.

Many tech-based companies had already begun scaling up before the pandemic struck and would have found it easy to switch from an office environment to remote working. For forward-thinking companies, working remotely could already have been the longterm plan, so those who were tech-driven and people-centric would have sat with their staff and asked them what they wanted, and how they saw their roles and working situation moving forward.

PaySpace did exactly this, and what emerged from those conversations was that a staggering 98% of employees said they would prefer to remain working remotely, with the ability to engage when required with their teams, and still be able to touch base and connect with their colleagues on a social level too.

Human interaction an imperative for employees

“Human interaction turned out to be imperative for employees, regardless of their individual circumstances,” says Sandra Crous, Managing Director of PaySpace. Many companies, including PaySpace, saw an increase in performance and productivity during the initial lockdown because employees could sit down and focus on their work. As there was no traffic-congested commute to contend with, it gave employees the opportunity to focus their energy on things that mattered. Instead of feeling stuck between work and life, where both contend for attention and time, remote working allowed work and life to co-exist. Employees could now manage their personal and professional priorities outside the restrictions of an eight to five office environment.

In the wake of the pandemic, those who planned on carrying on with the ‘new normal’ gave staff members the option of working from home and downscaled their offices. The office

now serves as a central meeting point to maintain the sense of community, coming together, and connecting with colleagues.

Maintaining a healthy ethos is critical in remote working situations

Many organisations hold their company culture in high regard, and maintaining a healthy ethos is critical in remote working situations. It is vital to continue collaboration and social activities too, as this time nurtures the culture of the business. With COVID-19, many companies found it a challenge to keep that culture alive while maintaining a healthy team dynamic and camaraderie.

There are, however, many ways to address this challenge. You could encourage safe, and protocol followed team meetings, irrespective of where they are held. You can also implement a ‘cameras on’ policy to ensure employees maintain contact with the people they’re dealing with. Being able to connect – to read body language, to see a smile – is very important.

It is also a good idea to encourage staff to take 10 minutes a day and have a virtual chat over a coffee with their colleagues, as this is something people would often do in a normal office environment. It is all about bringing humankind back into the relationship while adapting to a remote environment, to maintain a presence, make an impact, and show that you care.

In terms of human resources and payroll specifically, companies need to adapt the way they interact with employees to maintain a strong culture and still foster a personal connection. Payroll, for all organisations, would need to adapt to using a cloud solution. With cloud applications you can carry out payroll tasks from anywhere, and in a remote working world it has become the

norm. Cloud technology has opened up a world of possibilities.

Adjusted performance metrics

The pandemic drove many organisations to adapt and look at new ways of managing HR. Most companies cater for the traditional way of work with, for example, various types of leave. Organisations need to realise that remote working doesn’t necessarily mean working from eight to five every day. Employees now have family around them and children home from school, so trying to do a full day’s work while managing a household presents a huge risk of burnout.

“A good idea is to offer colleagues adjusted performance metrics. Instead of working on a set ‘hours per day’ basis, work on objectives, results and deliverables,” says Crous. In this way, staff can balance work and life and still achieve what they need to. In addition, if you’re giving employees the freedom to deliver outcomes, you need to give them the freedom to work when they want to. If they deliver on their outcomes, it shouldn’t matter if they take time off.

There’s no question that COVID-19 hit the world with a vengeance. The silver lining for companies who already had ‘future proofing’ on their minds and planned to change to remote working in the future, is that they realized the value of remote working early on. The key is maintaining a peoplecentric environment along with a high-performing culture. Making sure employees are still treated as individuals will aid their wellbeing and will also help to maintain a healthy work/life balance. 

Sandra Crous, Managing Director of PaySpace

About PaySpace

PaySpace is a true cloud-based HR and Payroll solution established in 2000. As one of the brands that fall under the Insight IT Group umbrella, PaySpace is the leader in online Payroll and HR solutions and services across Africa and abroad. With an integrated, real-time, SQL platform offering unified HR, payroll, and Human Capital Management (HCM) across 40 African countries, PaySpace offers embedded analytics, manager and employee self-service, therefore, enabling businesses of all sizes to run a fully tax and legislative compliant, ISO/IEC certified, cloud-based people management solution. PaySpace is the only HR and Payroll solution in Africa with International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 27001 certification, a testament to PaySpace’s commitment to safe and secure protection of data. PaySpace was awarded 2019 Payroll Software Supplier of the Year at the Global Payroll Awards in addition to achieving the 2019 Top 25 HR Software Award via The Software Report.