| | 8 HOSPITALITY BUSINESS REVIEWOCTOBER 2024The pandemic has modified the way businesses used to function. No one thought the crisis would last such a long time. The HR trends in 2021 will determine the future of how organizations function. While the past 12 months have been mentally and emotionally taxing, we have now started to adapt the way we work to suit new restrictions and, therefore, the new normal. Since the employees have adapted to the remote setup, bringing them back to the office would not be easy for HR leaders. HR Strategies Post­COVIDThe work culture at Aflac was always employee-centric. We always emphasized people-to-people connection, and we achieved 98 percent in-person culture in our workforce. It doesn't mean we hate technology, but we use minimal digital tools, whether for web meetings or telepresence meetings. While COVID forced our cultural principles to change overnight, we altered from a totally in-person to a totally remote workforce. The digital transition was a smooth, higher-trust transition because we had highly valued personal interactions, physical interactions, and live interactions. The company is around 65 years old, and I think it has enabled us to transform more smoothly. HR leaders have never been more critical than during the pandemic. The successful implementation of remote setup made them recognizable. But now, as things are coming back on track, the exciting thing as we think about a post-COVID environment from an HR perspective is that we have a lot of people who don't want to come back. We do surveys at regular intervals, and the feedback is overwhelmingly positive, as are the people working in this virtual arrangement. The most significant change management thing we will be dealing with over the next six to nine months is determining the appropriate time, based upon conditions, when to return. Convincing people who have now been at home for almost a year is going to be difficult, and telling them that things will be just as exciting and satisfying. Back on campus, no matter where we're operating, it will be quite a big challenge. We have a lot of work to do there because I think people have altered their lives to accommodate the various shutdowns, multiple mandates, social mitigation strategies, and, obviously, their work-life balance. I think no one would have believed before that we are now faced with a workforce, a portion of which may not want to return for one reason or another. We may have to be flexible to embrace hybrid approaches.So, it's probably going to be the more significant change management challenge for us. If you had asked me this back in February of last year, I would have said the exact opposite; I would have said that the most significant change management issue would have been the exit, not the return. There are legitimate Matthew OwenbyBy Matthew Owenby,Chief Strategy Officer (CSO),Aflac Inc.INCLUSIVENESS WILL BE THE NEW NORMAL IN POST COVID HRIN MY OPINION
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