By considering your route out of lockdown and establishing a clear strategic plan, you can build long-term resilience and successfully transition from the recovery phase to the growth stage. 

I recently chaired a webinar, which brought together an expert panel to explore this topic, reflecting on the learnings of the past year and offering insights on the future of work, with some of the key learnings captured here. 

Ali Nowroozi, Director of Masumi Headwear (Avakino Ltd) opened the discussion with the reality of the pandemic - a huge shock for any business regardless of size or sector. This, coupled with the UK’s exit from the EU, has brought a lot of uncertainty and evolution in the way that businesses work. Ali said that the digital world has transformed his business and making use of the digital capabilities we already have is the key to success going forward. 

Masumi Headwear design and produce stylish headwear for women who are affected by hair loss due to cancer or alopecia and the pandemic forced a big change in their operations. Suddenly, the business lost a big chunk of their service as face-to-face interactions were limited. This prompted the business to make the decision to divert to online platforms, investing heavily in a website, ensuring they could still reach their customers. 

Pamela Dodd, Group HR Manager of the Hyde Group is an experienced Development Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the aviation and aerospace industry. This sector has traditionally had a very tight labour market and there are usually only a couple of good candidates per job advertised. Since the pandemic, she has found that recruitment has been easier than usual due an increase in candidates looking for work due to redundancy in their sector. Hyde Group has recently built on apprenticeship schemes, upskilling existing employees through training and redeployment to retain them within the business. 

Jen Leggat, Business Development Project Manager at GC Education & Skills, a specialist in recruitment, and learning and development strategies within organisations also highlighted the need for businesses to look for internal opportunities to upskill or utilise schemes such as the apprenticeship levy or co-investment.  A wealth of funding opportunities is available for apprenticeships including the new incentive payments for hiring a new apprentice that were introduced to support businesses during the pandemic. Utilising apprenticeship or skills support for the workforce funding can be the key to growth as it presents a great opportunity and the adult education budget can help finance internal upskilling, as seen within the NHS.  

Tom Pickford, Partnership and Integration Manager at Skills for Growth shared his own knowledge and experience of the skills gap. For the last six years, Tom has worked in commercial training, focused on helping organisations in the private and public sectors implement training programmes and learning interventions to address organisational challenges and barriers to growth or change. 

Jen highlighted the large unemployment rates amongst young people at present, explaining that opportunities for them to enter the workforce and receive training to build their skillset were vital. Recently, with the help of government backing, programmes like Kickstart are enabling businesses to bring in young people, to upskill them and carve a career in their sector. Digital transformation presents a real opportunity for young people to enter work and further their careers. 

Tom agreed on the benefits of the Kickstart scheme, as it acts almost like a probationary period before moving onto an apprenticeship programme. It allows both the employer and employee to establish if they are right fit for an organisation or sector which can lead to further upskilling and development that benefits the business and the individual.  

Looking at ways of working, we also saw remote working affect younger workers in different ways. Research conducted during the pandemic found that while some experienced wellbeing gains, some others were more likely to feel lonely and disconnected. How to manage feelings of isolation when working from home is a challenge many organisations will have to navigate. Putting measures into place, being aware of what businesses demand of employees and creating that inclusive culture will be of the utmost importance going forward. 

Managing employee mental health and wellbeing is important as we move towards a post-pandemic world. Businesses need to understand that people working for their organisation do so for the benefit of the organisation as well as for their own improvement.  

People usually want to work hard and give it their all because of their own motivation their own values, goals and desires. However, under the wrong circumstances, this could lead to burnout, so employers should take this into consideration and seek to promote work life balance both for the good of their workforce and their organisations. As Ali, very precisely put it, it is important to not only work hard, but to also live hard. 

Arup implement a culture of flexible working, driven by a desire to do the right thing for the project but also to look after one's own wellbeing. Having flexibility promotes inclusion and allows people to choose their working hours around their work life balance, their faith, their children and other external factors. It’s a necessity to have that flexibility if you are to encourage more diverse people into the workforce. 

As we move into a post lockdown world, there are a number of considerations all businesses have had to make and will continue having to address in order to adapt to the changing landscape and needs of both the markets in which they operate and the workforces and people they employ. 

For support and guidance on upskilling your workforce contact the People, Skills & Talent team