Over the last month, we have witnessed the growing global impact of COVID-19. While there is no playbook on how to navigate this new phase of business uncertainty, Tech employers have responded with familiar alacrity to ensure pandemic readiness at their workplaces. Within weeks of the outbreak, leading Tech companies activated global remote work arrangements, relaxed leave policies, and committed to paying compensation for hourly workers on account of partial or full closure of business. “Tech employers have existing strengths that will serve them well at this time,” says Sheela Sukumaran, Partner and Tech Industry Leader at Mercer, “Their workplaces are likely to be digital, their workforce is familiar with virtual and autonomous work, and their flexible people processes allow for faster adaptation to changing work requirements.”
In the COVID-19 era, business organizations are maneuvering their way through the challenges of getting work done in a distributed team environment. Many Tech employers allow for and support remote working, virtual teams and distributed work. Others have had to update their remote working infrastructure and policies to enable their employees to work from home, including providing hardware, ergonomic tools, and manager training to lead virtual teams.
While distributed teams are not new to Tech companies, the question is – will they be able to innovate and operate just as well (and fast) in a 100% remote world? The reality is some will do better.
Employees in the industry are likely to be well equipped on the technology front; over 60% of Tech employers participating in a recent Mercer COVID-19 research study indicated they only use laptops at their company. However, to keep people safe and productive, it is also important to identify barriers faced by employees in remote work arrangements. Common challenges may range from broadband access, to virtual collaboration, to competing childcare responsibilities, or just dealing with the impact of sustained social isolation.
By activating new channels of engagement, be it employee-led communications, virtual hiring and onboarding, digital wellness programs or providing new work guidelines that allow for greater autonomy for employees to plan their work, Tech employers can help leaders and people managers set their teams up for success. In the coming weeks, we expect Tech employers to plan for different contingency scenarios and review their existing commitments around pay, benefits and employee contributions. For employees who may face separations in the near term, there are important considerations around severance pay, benefits, and outplacement services.
Moving forward
We expect Tech employers to consider several areas as they develop their near term workplace strategies:
- Reconfiguring HR policies
Examine existing policies to identify changes needed to enable the workforce during this time. This includes relaxing or removing leave requirements, resetting incentive policies in light of the economic slowdown, reviewing benefits contracts and rethinking coverage rules in light of COVID-19 and preparing their HR shared services capabilities for increased inquiries.
- Exploring alternative workforce strategies
For each contingency scenario, Tech employers will do well to develop alternative workforce strategies, including hiring freezes, furloughs, delaying start dates for new hires, and layoffs while considering coverage and impact to their workforce.
- Engaging employees differently
To address the stressors of remote work, it is important to understand what employees are thinking and feeling. By leveraging digital channels of employee communication and engagement, organizations can advance employee wellbeing at scale. Compared to other employers, Tech employers are 1.5 times more likely to be doing this already, per Mercer research.
- Confidence building and direction setting
Business leaders and people managers will carry increased responsibility for organizational health and employee morale during this time. Through frequent leadership communications, it is important to reinforce business priorities while creating a shared sense of what to expect in the near term. Several Tech CEOs have taken “no layoff” pledges and shared their COVID-19 response strategies publically.
“From our ongoing industry discussions and research, we know that Tech employers recognize the importance of equipping their employees with the tools and information in order to keep them connected and engaged in a virtual environment,” Sukumaran says. “As we move towards the period of economic recovery, this ability to flex in an uncertain, dynamic context – coupled with a continued focus on empathy and innovation – will help Tech employers define the new normal not just for the Tech industry, but also for the new world of work.”
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Co-authored by Sheela Sukumaran (sheela.sukumaran@mercer.com) who leads Mercer’s Global Tech Vertical and Laurie Alook (laurie.alook@mercer.com) who heads up Mercer’s Pacific Northwest offices of Portland, Seattle and Spokane. Please reach out for further discussion and insights.