5 Ways the World of Work Will Change Post COVID
#NextNormal #FirstMeridianInitiative

COVID-19 has brought upon a paradigm shift in the world of work, including at FirstMeridian. Organisations worldwide have set up remote workplaces to ensure continued operations, and nearly 48% of the existing workforce will continue to work remotely in future. Amidst the worker layoffs, organisations are expanding their use of contingent workforce to have flexibility in workforce management in the post-COVID era.

The retail sector was heavily impacted and is now working on new strategies to stay in the game. On the brighter side, e-commerce is suddenly the way of the future for certain businesses that never considered online sales as a key growth platform prior to COVID-19.

Arguably, this pandemic will have a lasting impact on the future of work, which brings us to FirstMeridian's #NextNormal initiative. At FirstMeridian, we are taking essential steps to that our clients, candidates, associates, colleagues, and partners are prepared for the future of work. We are enabling organisations across industries to rethink their strategies and prepare for the #NextNormal.

Let us look at 5 ways the world of work is about to change forever and what we as at FirstMeridian are advising employers to do in order to align with this inevitable transition into the #NextNormal and emerge as stronger leaders.

1. Remote Workforces

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed employers to implement remote workspaces, changing the way employers approached workplace collaboration and employee engagement.

A recent EMA Partners survey found that 56% employers believe remote working is efficient. 24% of them highlighted the cost benefits associated with reduced office space. This also gives employers the chance to bring on board top talent that aren't willing to relocate.

As part of our #NextNormal initiative, we at FirstMeridian are helping organisations across industries and geographies setup remote workforces to manage end-to-end sales, operations and key business functions.

To know about our Remote Workforce Deployment and Management Services, write to sales@v5global.com.

2. Contingent Staffing For A Solid Hiring Strategy

Let's talk about the next normal in hiring strategy for employers in the post-COVID era.

A Gartner poll showed that 32% of organizations are replacing their full-time permanent employees with contingent workers. In another poll by EMA Partners, 40% companies admitted to freezing their open positions while 31% continue to hire amidst the crisis. FirstMeridian is playing a crucial role in making the latter happen.

This is the time organisations should make contingent staffing as their hiring strategy to mitigate risks, cut down on hiring costs and continue building their workforce and ensure successful completion of ongoing projects.

We at FirstMeridian are helping our 400+ clients across 10+ industry sectors build contingent workforces, granting them flexibility to scale their operations and enabling seamless transition into the #NextNormal.

To know about all our contingent staffing solutions, write to social@firstmeridian.com.

3. A Stronger Business Model

As the global economy is affected amidst the pandemic, Business leaders are envisioning stronger business models. A 2019 Gartner survey found that 55% of organisational restructuring plans were focused on increasing operational efficiency by streamlining roles, supply chains and workflows. Optimization of operational costs will also be a priority for all employers, with added focus on financial stability with a predefined margin of safety.

The future of work in the #NextNormal will be centred around short-term planning, customer experience and bringing flexibility to all processes - this can be achieved by outsourcing key business processes. The iManage division within FirstMeridian is enabling leading organisations to optimize business processes, reduce operational costs and enhance performance through SLA-driven, HR-based managed services.

To know more about iManage, click here.

4. Transformation of Retail Sales

The organised Retail sector is going through a major transformation, and Organisations are reimagining their retail sales and marketing strategies. At the consumer end, they are looking up to their favourite brands to solve the lifestyle challenges they are facing now and help them transition to the next normal.

The future of retail in the #NextNormal is beyond just driving transactions. At FirstMeridian, our BrandPulse Trade Marketing division is shaping people's lifestyle by delivering meaningful and memorable customer experiences. More importantly, it is evolving the way retail brands function through innovative and tech-savvy retail marketing strategies, including:

• Market Activation
• Visual Merchandising
• Retail Audit
• Customer Loyalty Programs

Under our #NextNormal initiative, we are undertaking end-to-end retail sales and marketing projects and enabling leading brands to:

• Cut hiring costs
• Improve manpower planning
• Minimize risks
• Optimize business processes
• Automate reporting
• Achieve operational excellence

To know more about BrandPulse, click here.

5. HR Tech Tools to Drive Workforce/Change Management

HR Tech is now mainstream and will continue to lead and transform the entire human resources experience. An EMA report shows that the top HR priority of 48% employers amidst this pandemic is maintaining employee performance as they continue to work remotely. HR Analytics is becoming more popular and adoption of cloud workspaces and online collaboration tools are on the rise. The entire HR cycle - from demand management to employee onboarding, attendance, payroll, benefits, training & development and separation - is being automated. At FirstMeridian, we are helping organisations digitise and streamline end-to-end staffing, recruitment and the overall people management experience.

FirstMeridian DigiTrac, our mobile attendance and employee self-service platform is helping our customers digitize candidate onboarding, documentation, attendance, fuel reimbursements, and more.

To know more about FirstMeridian DigiTrac, click here.

Our RapL Microlearning Platform is enabling organisations to resolve knowledge gaps in their workforce and empowering professionals with product knowledge, SOPs and more with bite-sized, scenario-based mobile learning courses that are custom developed with gamification mechanics and real-time analytics to fulfil the training needs of the organisation.

To know more about RaPL, click here.

Infield, our suite of Trade Marketing Apps is revolutionizing the retail industry by automating end-to-end retail sales, improving overall operational efficiency, delivering great customer experiences and providing the business leaders a bird's-eye view of their end-to-end operations across locations.

To know more about Infield, click here.

Summary - What Employers Should Do to Transition into #NextNormal

1. Set up remote workforces
2. Expand the use of contingent workforce
3. Optimize the business model by outsourcing key processes to managed service providers
4. Transform the retail business and mitigate risks with trade marketing solutions
5. Adopt HR tech tools to automate and optimize HR processes

[Sources: Gartner, EMA Partners]