How Technology is Combating COVID’s Effect on the Workplace

By Susan McCullah

HR Professionals are well-aware of technology’s effect on the workforce. There are many valuable benefits from implementing technology, and the COVID-19 pandemic was yet another way for technology to serve us well. 

A year into the pandemic, employers have adapted to different ways of hiring and keeping their workforces safe and healthy. Technology drives a big part of this endeavor. Here are some of the most popular ways technology is helping combat COVID-19’s effect on today’s workplace. 

During Hiring

The hiring process took a big hit because of the pandemic. Hiring managers and job candidates alike have preferred to avoid in-person meetings, which might entail elevator rides and long waits in a crowded reception area. Technology has provided ways to virtually conduct hiring while keeping the integrity of the process in place. Some of the most helpful ones are:

• Mobile-Friendly Applications/Document Signing. Applicants that get hired need a safe way to sign the required new-hire paperwork. Before COVID, they would just come to the employer’s place of business and handle it in person. Technology makes it possible to do it virtually and safely. In addition, virtual document signing increases new job applicants’ and new hires’ candidate experience by giving them an option to use a smart device for aspects of the hiring and onboarding process. HR should look for digital applications that drive hiring efficiency and assist in obtaining consent for background checks right through a job candidate’s smart device. For example, an electronic invitation can be sent to the candidate via email or text. They can then input their own data and send it back. This contactless process is an effective, next-gen alternative that decreases the instances of required, in-person interactions.

• Virtual Interviews. Sure, you could conduct your interviews over the phone, but that’s going to lack the visual element and non-verbal cues you pick up on during in-person interviews.  “Meeting” over video gives you a better chance to observe a candidate’s “vibe”, gauge how they would contribute to a company’s culture, and pick up on their views about their work ethic, honesty, and excitement (or lack of it) for the position. Embracing technology during the interviewing process is essential in making candidates feel safe and keeping the virus from spreading. 

After Onboarding

Job candidates don’t pose the only risk to companies for spreading COVID-19 across the organization. Current employees who must physically attend work must also be handled appropriately and safely. Technology has been created to decrease the chances of both contracting and spreading COVID while at work. 

• Employee Monitoring. Ensuring employees who are sick don’t come to work and spread the virus is a top priority, and technology makes it possible. Smart device applications can gather information about an employee’s behaviors that give a picture of his or her risk. And it makes it easier and less time consuming than having another employee physically ask these questions. In addition, applications that offer contact tracing (make sure to get each employee’s permission) is another way technology can pinpoint COVID-positive staff earlier in the process, so they can decrease the spread. 
  
• Employee Testing. Employers can manage temperature checks and other testing in a low-tech way, but these processes eat up both money and manpower. Ongoing temperature checks help proactively detect employees who are positive for COVID. Instead of asking workers to take their own temperatures, employers may decide to invest in Bluetooth thermometers that automatically takes every person’s temperature and electronically sends the data to HR. This takes the burden off the employee and gives HR an accurate reading of the staff.

Technology has permeated all facets of our professional and personal lives. It gives us many ways to manage our jobs better and more efficiently. It’s no surprise that HR professionals turned to technology to help them mitigate risk and protect the workforce when the pandemic began. 

Being vigilant and understanding the technical options available is key. Embracing automated solutions for hiring, onboarding, and monitoring paves the way for companies to keep their staff healthy, safe, and functioning productively. Fortunately, technology is helping businesses of all sizes stay open and be profitable by decreasing COVID’s effect on the workplace.