The New Expectations Of HR

Ensuring workforce readiness while balancing employee privacy and safety

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses were shuttered and many others went virtual. Today, the workplace environment has forever changed as a result. 

Now, as the country begins to reopen and businesses begin to bring employees back to the workplace, companies are faced with rethinking their strategies for ensuring the health and safety of their staff. For many employers, new protocols have been quickly put into place to test workers in an attempt to mitigate risk and prevent further spread.

The challenge for American businesses? Repeated testing can be prohibitively expensive. Plus, asking employees personal questions about their health to gauge risk is considered a questionable practice. 

Whether you’re an employer, university, hospital, or health system, one thing is clear: the role of Human Resources is changing, and solutions that enable you to walk a fine line between respecting employees’ privacy and ensuring workplace safety are crucial.

Over the last several months, many stories have come to light about essential employees becoming sick or diagnosed with COVID-19, even though they were considered to be asymptomatic. This happened at meat processing plants owned by Smithfield Foods and Tyson Foods, causing operations to shut down for a time, for example. Warehouses and distribution centers, like those operated by Amazon and Safeway, also suffered similar fates. 

These situations have given the country a frightening look at what happens when precautions are not taken or containment efforts are unsuccessful. As a result, HR teams at companies of all sizes must take responsibility and implement preventative measures and develop new protocols designed to keep workers -- and customers -- safe. 

According to former U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, our new normal will enable society to get back work, “but we’re going to have to do so differently…. We’re going to have to sacrifice certain trappings and impose certain things that will make life different…and we’re gonna have to do things more safely than we’ve done before, and with more awareness to the risk of viral transmission.”

For many businesses, these changing dynamics and efforts can include requiring protective gear, staggering work schedules and limiting office capacity to allow for social distancing. Other organizations have taken this a step further, installing thermal scanners, requiring temperature checks before shifts start and adopting new procedures for no-touch or low-touch interactions. Such policies vary by state and are ever-evolving based on CDC and local health department guidelines and regulations.

Other organizations, such as Amazon, are focused on regular testing of employees for COVID-19. The issue here? Testing is still an imperfect solution. Results often take up to 72 hours, and the costs of frequent testing will add up fast, with each test costing roughly $100. Rapid tests can return results faster but were not designed for testing of asymptomatic individuals. While more rapid tests are being developed, there is no guarantee when that will be widely available for the corporate market, since the initial focus is on getting these tests to healthcare providers. 

Contact tracing is also being considered as a key way to keep American workers safe. This would enable HR teams to take preventative steps, isolating any employees who may have come into contact with a co-worker diagnosed with COVID-19. According to a recent PwC COVID-19 CFO Pulse Survey, at least 22% of CFOs said they were planning to evaluate new tools to support workforce location tracking and contact tracing. However, these tools also may cause a red flag from privacy advocates and run afoul of federal, state and local labor laws. 

So, considering all the odds, how can HR departments balance their employees’ individual privacy while also protecting their workforce, and the public at large, from greater spread of the coronavirus? 

One approach would be leveraging solutions that use information from COVID-19 tests, regular temperature checks, and other information to support data-driven decision making. Applying two-way communications within these tools enable HR teams to automate surveying each employee via text or email about potential symptoms based on the latest Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines. With the results, employers can then educate and direct employees about the best next steps, whether it is testing, isolation, or clearance from work. Such technology can also be used to reinforce best practices and protocols directly with employees, making sure they understand and adhere to the latest guidance.

This approach is working. According to Ryan Whitlock, human-resources director at Tiger Fuel, “COVID-19 has changed the workplace indefinitely. Historically, testing employees and asking personal health questions had been deemed too intrusive, but it’s now necessary to ensure the overall safety and well-being of teams. Using innovative technology, we are able to reopen the workplace in a safe and efficient way, while also working to prevent potential outbreaks on the job.” 

As pressure continues to be put on HR leaders, adding more complexity to their already busy roles, these professionals must be able to rely and depend on technology. Powerful tools that enable HR teams to bring disparate data points into a single platform not only supports individual employee risk scoring but also provides a holistic view for employers to assess the overall workforce readiness. With innovative tools on the marketplace today, improving workforce management can be done in an affordable and efficient way, while also catering to the needs and concerns of employees and keeping them safe.