Four Ways to Adapt to Today’s (Mostly) Digital Workplace
COVID-19 has changed how we work, with organizations transitioning to a digital workspace rather than a physical office. How will a digital work environment impact your hiring and background screening process? Learn how you can adapt in our latest blog post.
The term “digital workplace” has been in the news lately, especially in today’s COVID-19 environment, as many employees work from home. What does this mean for your organization, and how you conduct business going forward? And, as your organization continues to grow, how will a digital work environment impact your hiring and background screening process?
Understanding Today’s Workplace
During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, organizations across the globe have been forced to shut down their brick-and-mortar offices, remote work is quickly becoming the new norm, and it looks as if digital, rather than physical, workspaces will dominate in the near future. In a recent study, Global Workplace Analytics [1] found that 25-30% of the workforce will be working-from-home multiple days a week by the end of 2021.
That might be a daunting idea, but consider this: according to Forbes [2], 77% of the workforce wants to continue working from home at least once a week even after the pandemic is over, and new studies have shown that 77% of remote workers say they are more productive when working from home [3].
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What Else Can You Do?
When you think about a digital workplace, you may be imagining employees working from their living rooms, video conferences, and laptops. And you are not wrong! But the digital workplace is more than that – and starts before your hires officially join your team. You are now recruiting, hiring, and onboarding your employees remotely.
Here’s a look at four ways to help optimize your organization for today’s work environment:
1. Expand Hiring Parameters – The shift to working remotely that accompanied COVID-19 clearly accelerated acceptance for remote work, as noted by HireRight Chief Human Resources Officer Chelsea Pyrzenski in a recent article in HRO magazine. It has proven that organizations can continue to be successful, even when no longer united by the same physical location, and that it is possible to find the right talent for your team with fewer location-based restrictions. Because of this, doors open for flexible recruitment in dense locations lacking a regional office, where previously it might have been more difficult to attract candidates without a workspace. Given these changes, you may find there are many more applicants available to your organization. To make the most of these opportunities, use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to identify the best candidates with clarity and confidence.
2. Screen More Efficiently – As you make your talent choices, you want to make sure that you have the right technologies at your disposal to speed candidates through the background screening process – even if you’re not able to meet candidates in person. Consider a self-service applicant center to help make checks exponentially faster and easier for both the candidate and your HR team. Additionally, incorporating a Social Media Search in your screening process can be a valuable supplement to virtually screening candidates – providing vital information to help make sound hiring decisions by potentially identifying problematic job-relevant behaviors.
3. Focus on Employee Safety – Even with increased acceptance for working remotely, your organization may be faced with a hybrid working environment, with some team members working on site. Or you may have a large workforce population already back at work. Once employees have joined your team, how can you cultivate workplace safety despite the pandemic and enact preventative measures to control the spread of contagion? COVID-19 workforce screening is one tool available to help support a safer environment for your teams. Self-administered COVID-19 screening for your employees is now readily available – both on an ongoing assurance scale and a single-use ad-hoc testing basis – and can be sent directly to a remote worker’s home, at designated testing intervals.
4. Plan For The Future – Most workspaces are still closed, but acting now to plan for a post-COVID future will ensure that you have the agility to meet your workforce’s changing needs. What can you do to not only empower your employees to be successful but also cultivate their engagement and sustained investment in your organization? Learn more about building trust and creating a connecting workforce culture.
At the end of the day, succeeding in today’s digital workplace requires harnessing available technology to empower your people. Acting now to adapt to today’s digital work environment will not only lead to short-term success but will also position your organization to better weather future changes to your workplace culture.
[1] Global Workplace Analytics [2] Forbes [3] CoSo Cloud
Release Date: October 22, 2020
HireRight
HireRight is a leading provider of on-demand employment background checks, drug and health screening, and electronic Form I-9 and E-Verify solutions that help employers automate, manage and control background screening and related programs.