So, what are some of the biggest matters that People Management needs to navigate through, without compromising everything else?
Let's see:

• The wellbeing of the people is the most important thing
  This has taken its toll on everyone, one way or another. There are so many different situations: back office people that had to stay home, field people that had to keep going with their job, back office people that could not go home... And I'm not even touching the point of health workers, bus drivers, garbage collectors, supermarket cashiers, the police, firefighters... No one is 100% comfortable with all these changes and a massive amount of people was forced to be out of their element. This will cause an increase in medical leaves of absence, a decrease in productivity levels, a decrease in confidence (both-ways), less communication, and a number of different other connections that, ultimately, result in an actual impact on the business. Which is the opposite of what is wanted and what is needed.


• The remote work as a benefit is here to stay
  Yes, hybrid applies to more than cars! Some surveys have been conducted in what concerns people's preferences in terms of the work model. Do they rather stay home or go to the office? Well, the results vary a lot depending on the country, the sample, type of work, at what point it was conducted or even on demographics, but one thing is clear: not one study has 100% in any option and, additionally, there is usually a considerable percentage of responses under "no preference" or "hybrid". Giving the option to people will undoubtedly be the main course of action soon. It can be subject to rules, e.g. an x amount of days at home per month or week, or even defining if these can be accrued to take an extra week at a vacation destiny while working from there. This will be up to the companies. Food for thought!


• Talent acquisition is critical - and this process must be well adapted to remote
  The recruitment process, nowadays, is already quite remote at its first stage. The attraction portion of it is usually done via online job portals, such as LinkedIn, and so are applications. However, there are pros and cons to interviewing candidates via videocall. The biggest con being that it becomes less personal. You lose signs and small giveaways of the candidate's personality and that is oh-so important to catch! There are some tricks and some useful tools, such as focusing on a behavioral interview and even applying behavioral assessments, but it takes skill and preparation to do so. Any good recruiter can but it can take longer than what we have to work with. On the bright side, a massive pro is the time it takes to go through all interviews. If it is remote, most likely the candidate doesn't have to leave the home office chair while "travelling" from work to interview, the "grab-and-drop" process of picking the candidates at the door and taking them back at the end, the commute delays (especially in busy cities), all of that is immensely less important.

No one saw a pandemic coming and no one knew the changes it would bring and the time it would take. We're here now, exploring and risking, with good and bad results to share and learn. I keep thinking that, although the Internet has space for all types of influencing (people, information, speculation...), without it this would be such a different scenario. The information and points of view are shared so swiftly, it truly only takes a minute to discover seas of news, articles, statistics and opinions. It takes time and research but, as I always say, HR truly is about collaboration.