| | May 2021MANAGEHRMAGAZINE.COM8In MyOpinionThe last 12 or so months have brought change to our lives; personally and professionally. How much change is obviously dependant on your previous working and living circumstances, not to mention what part of the world you live in. This has brought challenges. This could be due to our mental health being tested as we meander through lockdown, losing our personal touchpoints in and out of the office. Or our physical health has gone wanting as feasting on some snacks seems more viable than fashioning a homestyle gym routine. Possibly could even be due to our trips overseas or interstate have been put on hold for the foreseeable future. Not for the first time, and I can safely assume, not for the last, we are being challenged as humans. Without deluging into philosophical conundrums or analysing the `state of the nation' from a broader perspective, what does this mean for the workforce and more so Employee Engagement in the new normal workforce? Organisations, on behalf of engaging, retaining and attracting the best Employees, have for some time been challenging what the working day should look like. We have seen companies implement initiatives such as changing the working week to 4 days. Showing flexibility to what hours in the day an Employee works instead of the standard Dolly Parton 9-5. Working from home has been a constant in the last 5 years, but it was seen as taboo by a large number, seemingly saved for progressive tech companies and few others. The gap has closed in many of these areas through the COVID-19 pandemic we find ourselves in. Those not on board will be left behind by what is the new normal expectation by Employees as they see the benefits of added flexibility to their work/life balance just as Employers have seen the cost saving it has produced with sustained efficiency of having less overheads. It poses new challenges and questions for many who are now a part of this new way (and are looking to sustain it) as we look to define how does this new normal work long-term as the forced trial period through lockdown has come to its close through restrictions ending. Engaging Employees will still rely on what makes people happy and gives them purpose. A hybrid model increases work/life balance, as does hours of work during the day not being so tied to 9-5, however there is a cost to this. Home life and work life can begin to blur when working from home. Travel is no longer an opportunity to remove one's mind from work through a book, the traffic around By Giovanni A Abelardo, Director, Employee Engagement & Experience, The AscottNAVIGATING EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN THE NEW NORMAL WORKFORCE
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