The Conference Board's online survey of more than 150 HR executives in April revealed more remote working as the most significant change (among the 20 changes ranked) commonly expected among respondent organizations during the COVID-19 recovery phase, as shown here:
Among the least expected changes are approaches to benefits, and relationships with vendors, suppliers, and partners.
Organizations that employ mostly professional and office workers as opposed to industry and manual services workers are more likely to: (i) expect an increase in full-time employees working primarily (i.e., at least 3 days/week) from home 12 months after COVID-19, (ii) self-report no change in productivity since the outbreak, and (iii) restrict hiring to critical roles in lieu of other types of workforce cost reduction actions in the three months following the survey (through at least July).
Organizations that employ mostly industry and manual services workers are: (i) less likely to expect an increase in full-time employees working primarily from home 12 months after COVID-19, (ii) much more likely to self-report decreased productivity, and (iii) much more likely to implement furloughs with benefits and permanent layoffs in the three months following the survey (through at least July).
See the Executive Summary on pages 2- 3, NACD BoardTalk's "Board Considerations for Reopening Business," and additional information and resources on our Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources page under Employment / Workplace and Board Oversight. This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!