Enterprise leaders have a decisive role in guiding the businesses to overcome difficulties in this period and recover from the crisis. However, the assessment of the time as well as the plan to gradually bring employees back to the workplace has been a challenge as well as an urgent issue for all businesses. Letting employees back to work will not be as easy as operating the businesses as before the pandemic. Every business, every industry has to face different problems. However, they all need to address common concerns: where to start, how to ensure employee safety, how to communicate effectively, and how to thrive stronger. With the preparations to resume operations, businesses are beginning to adapt to new ways of working and becoming more aware of the effects of the pandemic on corporate finance.

Digital transformation is considered as an inevitable journey in many businesses, it is happening fast and drastically. Since the eve of social distancing, technology has become a life jacket to help businesses transition to work from home and operate online quickly and flexibly. Along with digital transformation, businesses are also forced to constantly change their business strategies. Leading corporations are adjusting their work from home policies and periods in order to align with employees KPI or OKR.

The question for post Covid-19 pandemic is that – how do enterprises restructure their human resources and training? According to many experts, enterprises need to have a clear culture, products and processes in order to be able to transfer tasks easier and provide better training. Moreover, they will need a have a strong technological platform in order to bring about the activities. This is not only applicable in the case of working online, but also useful when there are new employees. The transition to the next phase – the new normal and recovery – require companies to seize the optimal solution to ensure a safe workplace.

Businesses will need to boost their employer branding to be able to compete in the battle of “hunting” for candidates that are capable of adaptability, flexibility and ability or knowledge of digital transformation technology. It is important to focus on creating a healthy working environment, creating learning and development opportunities in order to attract new talents. And also in developing sectors that are closely linked to innovation in technology, especially platforms for remote working.

Many businesses with foresight have also chosen this time to focus on learning and training activities to improve internal resources to be more ready for the new phase. Many businesses invest a lot in e-learning platforms. For the first time, it has allowed instructors to interact with hundreds of employees in many different places at the same time. Despite being very careful with all these costs, other companies still do not hesitate to spend a large amount to register for online learning accounts for all management levels. And many others are focusing on training and improving skills for their team to reach customers by phone and sell company’s products/ services remotely.

The post-pandemic situation poses new challenges, forcing businesses to be flexible not only in business models, but also in the human resource department. The challenges range from searching for ways of recruiting new employees, enhancing and motivating employees who are working remotely. Getting ready for many different scenarios from short to long-term post-Covid is extremely necessary.

It is almost impossible to know in advance how the resumption plans will need to change in order to meet the unpredictable changes of reality. So if a business actively revise their response measures, there is a high chance that they will thrive under the current uncertain environment. Response plans have to be implemented immediately, but product creation and learning & development for employees must still be maintained to ensure service quality and that business need to be able to re-open as soon as pandemic ends.

Covid-19 will pass, but the effect of Covid-19 on the businesses will remain. In particular, the trend of working remotely.  The shift from permanent employees to part-timers, freelancers will be increased. Businesses will need to optimize human resources and new ways of working. They must continue to make use of digital platforms to ensure smooth operation and deep integration in the organization will be the priority. In addition to the changes in business models and working methods, new skills are also formed and will determine the ‘survival’ of each employee, in which there is definitely a good ability for digital literacy.