Workforce Strategies for Post-COVID Recovery
Deloitte’s three phases address the organisational staged experience during COVID-19
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, an estimated 2.7 billion people, or more than four out of five workers in the global workforce, have been affected by lockdowns and stay-at-home measures.
A typical crisis plays out over three time frames: Respond, in which a company deals with the present situation and manages continuity; Recover, during which a company learns and emerges stronger; and Thrive, where the company prepares for and shapes the “next normal."
The recovery process adopted by each organisation will serve as a bridge between the response — how it dealt with the immediate demands of the crisis — and what its future will look like — the new normal.
These short-term actions — and long-term vision — present organisations with an opportunity to rapidly assess and evaluate their earlier workforce strategies and response priorities and to reposition themselves to thrive in the new realities to come.
Organisations may be tempted to dismiss the need for change or imagine recovery as a return to the recent past. It is not. Organisations that return to their old ways of working may find their competitors have taken advantage of the recovery to re-imagine their workforce and business, positioning themselves to thrive in the future.
By anticipating and orchestrating these five priorities — Reflect, Recommit, Re-engage, Rethink, and Reboot — in the context of a future directed towards Purpose, Potential, and Perspective — organisations can lead, prepare, and support their workforce through the recovery phase while positioning themselves for the next phase: thriving in the new normal.
