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Hybrid, remote work and employee well-being, are amoung the three things, that took centre stage during the height of the pandemic. However, they are not new phenoniums and had been bubbling beneath the surface while we were all rushing around before COVID-19. And, while we inch our way back to business as we know it, redefining norms requires us to answer questions that often cannot be resolved on our own. In short, we will not be going back to the way things were. We are living in the new normal.

Here are 5 things that gained traction since the pandemic:

Mental Health and Social Well-Being:
A recent survey  revealed that younger workers placed a heavy emphasis on mental health and well-being and will not work for a company who does not take it seriously.  That’s a stark difference from the previous generation. The pandemic and ensuing lockdowns added pressure on employees, and tested their wellbeing and private lives. The trend towards more purpose-driven jobs and companies was well underway before Covid, with millennials in particular known for prioritising purpose over pay cheques.

The Rise in Remote Work
COVID-19 forced employees and businesses to shift to working remotely using multiple platforms, such as Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams, WebEx, Google Hangouts and Skype.  The transition to working from home can reduce infrastructure costs by leasing smaller workspaces, and coordinating a workforce across multiple time zones to maximize daily workflow. Moreover, the benefits of work-from-home can be attractive for some employees and may, include increased schedule flexibility and reduced strains with family. And, while this is a preferred option for some employees-others in healthcare, warehousing and logistics, retail and some other industries don’t have the luxury of working from home.

Labour Shortage:
Companies have been grappling with labour shortages for most of 2021. And while, some have argued, that the pandemic relief doled-out by governments were the real reason for labour shortages, the persistent labour shortage, tells a different story. After being laid-off or furloughed, many employees have decided they do not want to go back to the way things were. In fact, employees are seeking more flexibility, more happiness and rethinking what work means to them and how they are valued. Employers on the other-hand are trying to adapt by offering hiring (cash being one of them) incentives. But will this be enough and a little too late? Only time will tell.

Our Workplaces will Look Different:
With less people coming into the office regularly, companies will likely re-evaluate their real estate needs.  Hiring perks like; beer Fridays, office gyms, dry cleaning pickups, ping pong tables and free snacks have likely lost some of their luster, since many people have been spending more time in their home offices and have fully embraced the concept. Also, when workers are not in the office to actually enjoy them, companies will be forced to re-evaluate these incentives and work culture.

Pandemic-Inspired Union Efforts
Labour turmoil has followed the course of the pandemic. Some grocery, warehousing, meat packers, gig and other low-paid workers deemed “essential” during the pandemic lacked access to employer benefits, like paid sick leave or compensation for working under hazardous conditions. And, this some say, has amplified the public support for unions even more. The pandemic has put a spotlight on workers’ rights issues and accelerated an organizing movement that’s been slowly building in recent years — and with the pandemic, it just reached a breaking point.

Bottomline:
So, what does this all mean going forward? No one really knows. In reality, it will likely mean more of the same: We to continue to mask up, get vaccinated, and stay isolated if sick and be adaptable.  And, it will likely not be the normal we want, but it may be a normal we can contend with. We may go to the office a few days a week and/or we will work from home. Finally, we will stay home when we are sick.

Moving to the cloud can be scary prospect if your company has been against it for some time. However, one of the lessons from the current coronavirus pandemic, is that it has forced many businesses to become agile— by adopting hybrid and work from home (WFH) policies which, by extension, encompasses some of today’s cloud computing technologies like; WebEx, Zoom and Microsoft Teams to name a few. And, with many of today’s IT experts on board with cloud computing—it will be much easier to make sure your applications environment is running efficiently and your company is optimizing its benefits.

The primary forms of cloud computing are:

  • Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS): In this scenario, businesses rent servers, storage and networking infrastructure in a cloud environment.
  • Software-as-a-service (SaaS): With SaaS, businesses access the applications they need over the internet and pay for what is required.
  • Platform-as-a-service (PaaS): Organizations access a development platform for building or rolling out proprietary software and services.

Here are 3 ways small and businesses can benefit from cloud computing in 2022:

  1. Application Administration-Small and mid-size companies can take advantage of cloud computing technologies without the need to purchase and maintain their own IT infrastructure, helping to conserve their IT budgets. That’s particularly attractive to businesses that can now access advanced technology previously out of reach.  And, if you are an executive at an organization that produces and uses any type of data set, you will be enamoured with the benefits cloud analytics. Cloud analytics is data collection, tracking and analysis that happens on systems hosted in the cloud, rather than in rather than in on-premises (for example on your company’s server) systems.
  2. Turnkey Provisioning and on-Demand Scalability-Embracing cloud computing will change a lot of things for the better, including costs, security, accessibility, and maintenance. But it doesn’t change your core service level requirements. Businesses should not compromise on their technology needs—delivering on performance, scalability, availability, reliability, and security, all of which when deploying a cloud computing solution.
  3. Growth, Scalability and a Unified Approach From Anywhere-Cloud applications like ATSTimeWorkOnDemand offer powerful capabilities on-demand with near-limitless flexibility. These resources are available as needed for scaling up or scaling down, without any need to purchase, set up or maintain any of your own servers or other resources as your needs shift with growth.

To aid productivity, your organization can use the application to summarize and analyze data quickly for real-time insights. Additionally, cloud computing ATSTimeWorkOnDemand offers ready-to-use programming components that allow developers to build new capabilities into their applications, including innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT).

Cloud computing trends demonstrate how this technology is changing the way businesses operate and how they allocate their IT budgets. Significantly, public cloud users (who share computing resources) no longer have to purchase and maintain hardware and other infrastructure or manage IT upgrades and software patches — that responsibility now falls on their cloud vendors. This leaves businesses and their IT teams able to focus on core business objectives like innovation, new product or service offerings and hiring new talent. It also helps to level the playing field for growing businesses that had been unable to afford the steep price tag of advanced technologies they can now access through a subscription.

As we approach 2022, the adoption of cloud will continue to accelerate as more small and mid-size businesses embrace the advances in cloud computing power, scalability and flexibility that cloud-based systems deliver. In the end, this will provide IT departments with more time to focus on core business objectives like innovation, and other initiatives.

About ATS

ATS offers a broad portfolio of time and attendance solutions that streamlines the collection, calculation, and reporting of employee hours for workforce management and eliminates the manual tasks of payroll preparation, increasing efficiency and reducing errors in corporate payroll departments.

Thousands of organizations across North, Central and South America and Europe- including more than half of the Fortune 500 – use ATS TimeWork OnDemand, Workforce Planning, Employee Scheduling HR and payroll solutions to manage their workforce. ATS cloud services offer rapid deployment, support services, software updates, and enhancements; and consulting and training services.