(Expansion) – More than two and a half years after the pandemic, we are back on the streets, filling restaurants, attending social, sports and entertainment events, getting stuck in traffic. To use the face mask less and less, to attend to a healthy distance, to neglect (sometimes without realizing it) the preventive measures against COVID-19.
As we have commented here, and that we all undoubtedly agree, is that the worst of the pandemic is over.
Although COVID-19 significantly impacted our lives during the first year in all aspects, allow me, dear reader, to focus on the labor sector.
Undoubtedly, job opportunities were significantly affected; the number of unemployed in Mexico soared 31.3% throughout 2020, compared to 2019. However, the labor market during the second year showed a recovery trend and an increase in the number of jobs at the end of 2021, according to with INEGI; the improvement is not great, but it is significant.
And the behavioral changes of the collaborators of any organization have also improved in this same period, but there are still situations to attend to before they become problems. Red flags that, two years into the pandemic, those in charge of human capital management must continue to attend to, since they continue to represent risks in terms of integrity, productivity, and turnover in any institution.
Human Resources experts will agree with me: in the last 10 years we have observed positive, gradual and subtle behavioral changes in employees from various industries, but from the start of the pandemic to date these changes were negative, drastic, which represent risks in terms of labor fraud, confidentiality, doing the wrong thing thinking it is the right thing to do, that the end justifies the means, among others.
I dare to say that human capital managers have the obligation to implement more effective and up-to-date selection and management strategies, with the aim of reducing the aforementioned risks, as well as low productivity and turnover. This is part of that new normal that we mention so much, especially in the first year of the pandemic.
I try to give more context.
In terms of integrity, among the main behavioral risks we have the one that implies reasoning that “the end justifies the means” and that the people who present it can make bad decisions for the right reasons or commit fraud or illicit, justifying these actions as “a act of justice”.
Another risk is the difficulty in objectively judging one’s own decisions and actions, which leads to making bad decisions because it is not easy to analyze the consequences of their actions. More examples could be the stress factor, this risk of low level of well-being linked to personal health problems or concerns or that of a family member.
Tension, which impacts the ability to cope with situations accompanied by excessive emotional or physical burdens. Or low self-control in times of crisis, staff turnover, lack of a sense of belonging and commitment to the organization, and an ineffective ability to manage tense labor relations, which are largely the product of working remotely for so long without social bonding with co-workers and the work environment that existed in companies before the pandemic.
The increase in these effects and risks are a reflection of the impact of COVID-19 on the well-being of employees. This impact affects the competitiveness of organizations, affects their business model, so it is important to invest and attend to their talent.
If you see these red flags flying in your organization, address them. It is important that the management of human capital is accompanied by fair and equitable monitoring, analysis and attention processes that are based on reliable data and measurements. On the one hand, it is imperative to address the sense of belonging to organizations and, on the other, the behaviors that can put them at risk. It is for the benefit of the collaborators and the organization.
Editor’s note: Fernanda Zenizo has a degree in Communication Sciences from the Universidad del Valle de México. She currently serves as General Director of Intelab. He is currently Vice President of Management of Technical Committees at the Mexican Institute of Finance Executives. Follow her on . The opinions published in this column belong exclusively to the author.
