Not many of us have been lucky enough, or unlucky enough, to spend as much time at home as we have spent in 2020. Companies across the globe dispersed their workforce and resources to work-from-home and have become the norm since. Nevertheless, today’s collaborations tools like Slack, Trello, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom, etc., have made it possible for employees to do this. In several cases, where physical presence is avoidable, it becomes optional for employees to continue staying at home or come to the office. This arrangement has given to the ‘Hybrid Working’ models and ‘Hybrid Teams where some members telecommute while others come to the office.

This is where Data and Analytics come in. They can empower organizations and HR to assess and protect remote employees in this unprecedented time of uncertainty.

• Employees are continuously facing new, ubiquitous personal and professional stressors in a remote workplace.
• Analytics are available for employees to self-help and for HR leaders to assess stress levels and understand the impact on performance.
• Analytics help drive data-driven decisions to provide interventions and protect your employees from collaboration overload.

Businesses in every industry must embrace adaptability and flexible working culture and a protective environment for employees that takes care of their well-being. This is not to say that a Hybrid/Remote/Flexible Workforce does not come with its baggage. Wherever employees are working isolated from the office, risk disconnectedness and it needs to be managed carefully.

HR analytics and digital tools provide a rich array of options to respond to the diverse consequences of working in hybrid or remote teams. Previously, demographic data only allowed the quantification of vulnerable or more isolated groups of workers. Now with the digitized collaboration techniques that we mentioned, it is possible to measure performance data that were impossible before. Employees working in highly interpersonal roles such as Business Support Managers and Partners require Digitization at the level of interpersonal relations.

Digitizing all interpersonal relationships in a remote setup allows HR Analysts to make use of scheduling meta-data, reporting on the interconnectedness of workers in complex and horizontal roles. This counteracts a lack of exposure among remote workers while adding viable performance assessment criteria to the HR Managers’ repertoire. Furthermore, individuals with exceptional interpersonal skills are gifted with a more important role of providing a social cohesion much needed amongst a team working out of multiple locations. The identification of these individuals is best done with the assistance of HR data and analytics.

Potential disengagement by employees can be detected by managing employee engagement and satisfaction. This is carried through Engagement Surveys or Explanatory Analytics applied to employee health and attrition. These digitized surveys can also highlight vulnerable groups most negatively affected by the lack of personal interactions and even forecast health risks and turnover.