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Role of HR in Virtual Workplace

Written By: Sreenidhi Raghavan

Until a few years ago, workplace culture was the huge aspect of Human Resource Management. Human Resource professionals used to find ways to inculcate the ethics, values and beliefs of an organization in every employee to ensure the most dynamic resources of the organization are unified and are alike in their core. One of the biggest challenges for HR is how to make sure that their employees feel connected to the organization and are working towards the identical goal. At first glance, remote working and virtual workplaces seem trendy and fashionable. Indeed, right from procuring desktops and laptop along with facilitating high speed broadband connectivity at the place of the employees, to the all-embracing issue of maintaining data integrity and security of the confidential work that is done for the clients, most importantly inspiring employees to perform as they would do in physical offices, the challenges are plenty for HR managers and line managers requiring an entering a new work paradigm. Some of the unique roles and responsibilities HR must deal with in the world of the remote workforce are as follows:

• Widened search for the right fit: Recruitment has always been a salient responsibility of HR specialists, but with more of the labor force working remotely, the process of search and hiring has become swifter. Enhanced communication and collaboration tools let individuals in some domains to work from anyplace and without relocation costs. While this opens the ground to a larger number of players, it only broadens and scope and volume of potential hires.
• Virtual Onboarding: Virtual onboarding process requires one to be creative with the onboarding itinerary to ensure the process is no less significant than it is for employees that work in a central location. In the end, onboarding doesn’t just mean learning the ropes, it should be about getting new hires to be productive, engaged and inspire them to be valuable members of the company.
• Digital Engagement: Being engaged in work is very important to both employee satisfaction and their productivity, that is, employee engagement is directly linked to business success. Engaged employees are biggest competitive differentiator who exhibit behavior that demonstrates commitment to organizational values and objectives. Keep everyone informed on important events and keep them highly motivated by engaging them in various online activities involving new initiatives.
• Enabling Communication: While remote working may offer freedom and flexibility of working from anywhere, there are some downsides to being away from a delivery center (office workspace). So, to facilitate proper communication to all the employees without making them feel isolated or left out, regular and frequent communication, checking-in regularly, using video conferencing whenever possible, and being accessible become inevitable for HR professionals to manage affiliation of workforce to company.
• Strategic Leadership: In the phase of remote working, HR is being called upon to broaden their roles beyond employee management to create companies where people want to work, no matter where they are. They integrate the vision, creativity and innovation necessary for long term success with the operational focus and understanding that maintains organizational stability.