The COVID-19 pandemic has both motivated and prompted HR leaders and their teams to reflect on the function of the organization's human resources department as a result of the epidemic. At the beginning of the year 2020, several businesses made the swift move to a model of remote labour. The in-person work of teams has given way to ways of online cooperation.

For the majority of employees, the experience of working from home was completely foreign territory. Even after all of these adjustments have been made, and even after a year has passed, the workplace continues to alter as a result of COVID-19.

From the very beginning, HR firms like HR Talent have been at the epicentre of these changes that were caused by the epidemic. They had to negotiate the newly implemented health and safety rules, assist managers in adjusting to the new normal, in some cases cut manpower, and keep up with the needed administrative procedures.

According to a technology expert who presented to the Society for Human Resources, "Right now, HR and information technology (IT) are likely the two areas most critical to a company's survival." "Executives want to ensure that remote workers have the appropriate technology and support at home to do the job," "Executives also want to ensure that their sensitive HR data is kept safe in-home working environments," and "Executives want to ensure that they are keeping remote workers engaged and productive."

It is critical for companies and HR teams to look forward and take stock of what has happened, as well as how those changes will affect the future of business and how HR will need to be reimagined in light of those developments. According to HR expert Josh Bersin, there are some beneficial results that can arise from COVID-19's many bad ramifications, such as excessive health hazards, high unemployment, company closings, and societal division. However, HR can also uncover some positive outcomes.

Bersin argues in HR Executive that human resource departments are coming up with "new ways to work, new models for jobs, new methods to learn, and new ways to pay, incentivize, and reward employees."

In this article, we will examine six significant shifts and discuss how human resources departments may make the most of these shifts in 2021.

1. Increase the stringency of the recently implemented health and safety regulations at the workplace.
2. Make use of other methods for vacation time.
3. Integrate the various systems for the highest possible output.
4. Utilize several forms of technology to better engage your workforce.
5. Increase the number of projects that focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
6. Acclimate yourself to the growing trend of working from home.

A significant amount of organizational shift was necessary as a result of the epidemic. Despite the fact that employees and leaders alike were affected by the changes and trauma, it is to the benefit of HR to put the main learnings to use in order to assist the workplace is evolving and transforming in inventive ways.

Increase the stringency of the recently implemented health and safety regulations at the workplace

Leaders in HR are being faced with the responsibility of keeping up with ever-evolving health and safety criteria as well as gaining an awareness of the fast-changing environment in order to ensure that policies and procedures satisfy requirements. Employees, who are being bombarded by a daily bombardment of COVID-19 updates from both local and national news sources, are coming to rely more and more on their HR department as a key source of up-to-date and reliable information regarding the epidemic.

A continuing issue for human resources teams will be ensuring that companies not only have the information they require to make decisions but also that employees are informed about the rules that the company has in place. It's possible that many employees may be reluctant or anxious about returning to work for businesses that are making plans to do so. This might be an issue for such businesses. According to responses given by American workers in a poll conducted by KRC Research not too long ago, over half of them are concerned that they would be asked to report back to work before it is safe to do so.