COVID-19 Reset & Recovery: Using Human Capital Analytics to Understand the Internal Customer before, during, and after a Crisis

In the absence of reliable data, decision-making processes will be compromised. Given that many of the decisions made will impact employees and employee programs, human capital teams must be strategic in gathering and analyzing data to inform decisions. Organizations that have base-line performance data from before COVID-19 may be positioned to better understand whether decisions made during and post-COVID-19 are achieving desired human capital performance and ultimately business outcomes. Even if base-line data has not yet been created, it is not too late to curate data from past performance so that you can “path-correct” going forward.

This report will describe three areas of human capital where the use of data is critical in decision-making, particularly during the pandemic: employee engagement and productivity, health and well-being, and diversity & inclusion (D&I). Each section will describe how the pandemic has changed how we collect data and what data we collect, and the potential long-term effects that will remain in place after the pandemic.

Employee experience and productivity have changed during COVID-19 and are likely to continue to change

The COVID-19 pandemic paints a mixed picture of employee engagement and productivity measurement. Some organizations have found employees to be more engaged and productive during the pandemic, citing renewed organizational or job purpose and improvements due to flexible schedules and working from home. Storytelling about some of these changes has been common. In fact, some companies, like Walmart, have developed commercials and marketing campaigns highlighting their employees and the important work they do, telling their stories both inside and outside the organization.

Other organizations, though, have been impacted by the pandemic in less positive ways. Blurred lines between work and life have affected engagement levels and raised the risk of burnout.^[1] In addition, job loss, furloughs, nonrenewal of contract work agreements, pay cuts, bonus reductions, and other cost-reducing actions have led to financial concerns for many and “survivors’ guilt” for workers who remain in an organization when their colleagues have been laid off. These actions come on top of health and safety concerns associated with COVID-19 and the illness and death of colleagues and loved ones. These experiences can influence engagement and productivity in negative ways.

This report outlines specific recommendations to help organizations navigate engagement and productivity metrics during and after COVID-19.

Engagement and productivity in a remote environment should be tracked to improve performance. More flexible work arrangements, including more working from home, are likely to become the norm. In fact, a recent survey by The Conference Board found that 77 percent of employers expect more employees to work from home one year after the pandemic.^[2] As workers remain remote or in flexible work arrangements, productivity can be measured and new tools and resources provided to improve engagement and productivity in these changing circumstances. Some analytics tools have measured the shift in productivity per worker since the COVID-19 pandemic began and many employees began remote work. The pandemic has given us a unique opportunity to analyze networks and patterns in new ways. For example, according to one study, after two months of social distancing, for employees working from home, these aspects of work have increased:^[3]

• Total meetings by 23 percent
• After-hours emails by 23 percent
• Workday length by 34 percent
• Work interruptions by 34 percent

It seems that many employees have been able to increase their capacity to work and produce measurable outcomes. However, organizations must consider whether these increases in activity are generating higher levels of productivity, and if so, whether these increases are sustainable over time or just a response to the immediate needs associated with the pandemic. Organizations should consider appropriate, sustainable levels of individual and organizational productivity that will generate appropriate outcomes without causing negative impacts on employees, such as absenteeism, disengagement, and resignations.

Use pre-COVID-19 data to compare outcomes and strengthen practices that work. Many organizations today are comparing pre-COVID-19 effectiveness to current levels of productivity. While some organizations have self-reported an increase in productivity since the beginning of COVID-19, others are experiencing a decrease. Organizations that had more remote workers before the pandemic were more likely to report an increase in productivity.^[4]

Measures such as the value of revenue per employee or ROI and their correlations to overall targets during and after the crisis can be used to optimize salary dollars without eroding productivity and to reset targets during and after the crisis.^[5] For example, one mid-sized regional bank used analytics and financial modeling to determine appropriate pay increases for hourly employees during COVID-19. It determined that a 100 percent pay increase for employees only resulted in a 33 percent increase in actual cost. This was the most financially beneficial decision for the bank when factors such as potential loss in productivity, rehiring, and training costs were taken into account.

While many organizations are focused on short-term engagement and keeping the business running, the data collected now can also inform work-from-home policies and other engagement actions in the future. For example, Gallup has conducted a leadership audit for its clients to inform workforce decisions during the pandemic, focusing on topics like leadership communications and social distancing practices.^[6] However, caution should be taken in interpreting results the during crisis and applying them to future conditions, which may be drastically different.

Use demographic data to provide resources to specific worker segments. On an individual basis, organizations can survey employees to map out needs to specific population segments. For example, one survey found that younger workers (44 years and younger), females, and those who lived alone or with roommates were more likely to experience a decrease in productivity. Organizations can support these workers by providing more frequent social interaction, providing flexible work hours, and offering frequent manager updates. ^[7] Organizations that track this information are better able to meet the needs of different worker segments.

Consider developing (or hiring) leaders with new competencies to motivate remote workers. Remote and flexible work, and increases in new ways of working, such as contingent work or project-based work, may become more prevalent, also requiring new skills of workers and leaders. In addition, new job opportunities may appear as companies move toward more digitized, resilient, and localized operations. In fact, the pandemic may bring about an increased investment in AI or other digital tools, as organizations map out productivity and investment allocations.^[8] For many organizations, there will be a learning curve as they consider new learning and development tools to reskill employees or hire employees with new skills. Organizations can plan for these changes now by tracking successful leadership traits, hiring for these skills, and providing tools to current leaders to train them in these areas.

Organizations that had recorded baseline performance before COVID-19 are better able to plan for the future, as changes in performance during the crisis may not be sustainable afterward. However, small and sustainable improvements in performance can have a significant positive impact on corporate financial performance, and human capital leadership will be at the forefront of these changes.^[9] When considering how to allocate budget to HR programs, a rigorous analytics exercise should be undertaken to optimize corporate financial performance and expected returns.

The table below summarizes employee experience and productivity measurements before COVID-19, during the pandemic, and expectations in the coming years after the pandemic has subsided. A similar table will follow each section in this report.

Employee health and well-being is now at the forefront of business success. Before COVID-19, many corporate health and well-being programs focused primarily on physical health, often with an objective to reduce long-term health care costs.^[10] To measure the effectiveness of these programs, organizations tracked changes in sick days and productivity, program participation rates, and employee engagement scores.^[11] In recent years, organizations have begun taking a more systemic approach to health and well-being, instituting programs to address all forms of employee well-being (i.e., mental, emotional, spiritual, and financial).

The crisis has profoundly affected the health and well-being of employees, from frontline healthcare workers and other essential workers putting their lives at risk, to remote workers balancing work-life boundaries when most care services are unavailable.^[12] Four trends in measurement and tracking of health and well-being programs and policies are likely to continue after the pandemic:

1. Health and safety concerns will require new levels of vigilance and support. The pandemic has heightened the value of health and well-being programs organizations offer to their employees, and these changes are likely to remain after the pandemic. In the short term, a second wave or recurrence of the pandemic poses an ongoing health threat to employees. As organizations consider reopening the workplace, they must consider and address the health and safety concerns of employees; tools like health scorecards and analytics will become more important. Monitoring of employee health, using temperature checks and other methods, may become more commonplace. In the long term, health and well-being may shift from an individual to a more social construct, as people understand the implications of an individual’s health on others. Organizations may develop new procedures for this “social” wellness, such as additional safety protocols and social distancing measures.
2. Employers can expect an increase in the use of programs to drive new approaches and measurements. The magnitude of the pandemic’s impact on health and well-being may become a catalyst for accelerating the shift in how organizations approach employee health and well-being, including measurements that determine the impact of these programs. Many organizations have experienced an increase in the utilization in traditional employee assistance programs, but they have also expanded mental and financial health benefits and included additional services, like free telemedicine consults.^[14] Measuring programs and policies will be more important than ever for ensuring a strong ROI for health and well-being initiatives.
3. Workers are discovering a wider variety of health and well-being tools and offerings and may request new benefits offerings. Workers are experiencing new health needs and are turning to new sources to meet these needs. The pandemic has expanded the widespread adoption of new tools for health, such as BetterU and Bravely focused on mental health and coaching, 7 Minute Workout focused on physical fitness, Headspace used for meditation, and others. In fact, EdX, an open online course provider, experienced a surge of enrollment in spiritual and religious courses by 30,000 percent.^[15] Many employers are considering these tools and providing new benefits offerings to support employee needs. Human capital teams need to collect appropriate data on the tools that employees need and the effectiveness of offerings.
4. Blurring of work-life boundaries will intensify, and employers should consider burnout and other threats to well-being. In the long term, work and life boundaries may continue to blur, with more workers remaining remote or on flexible hours long after the pandemic. The impact of employee health and well-being for employers are likely to remain a high priority. Neglecting signs of burnout or fatigue may lead to productivity and attrition risks. Many employers will continue to track employee metrics to support a new, more remote and flexible workplace. Facebook, for example, is taking measures to prevent burnout by offering flexibility and childcare options.^[16] 

Measures of D&I impact are increasingly important and rapidly changing

Crises such as COVID-19 have long-term and far-reaching business ramifications. They also engender immediate, direct, and sometimes disproportionate impacts on the employment and finances of different worker segments. Furthermore, outbreaks give rise to social stigma, blame, xenophobia, and discrimination towards specific demographics. In the past, the Latinx community was blamed for swine flu, the LGBTQ+ community for AIDS, African Americans for Ebola. COVID-19 has expanded this list with its associated blame and aggression towards Asian people.^[17] But the COVID-19 pandemic has also affected some populations in disproportionate ways and impacts how organizations should measure pandemic outcomes. Some of the impacted worker segments include:

• Older workers Older individuals are physically shunned, socially isolated, and more likely to experience layoffs, along with individuals with pre-existing health conditions and comorbidity.^[18]
• Minorities Since women, people of color, and immigrants are overrepresented in low-wage and hourly jobs, they are also at a higher risk of being let go.^[19] They are also at a higher risk of exposure given that they are more likely to be in “essential” and front-line occupations.
• Less educated workers The economic impacts of the pandemic will have far reaching effects and may impact less educated workers disproportionately. ^[20] They may also have a harder time finding a job after the pandemic, as more workers compete for roles.
• Younger workers New graduates are entering a dismal job market with little stability. Younger workers, particularly in low-wage jobs, are more likely to experience job loss. As unemployment rises and employers have more qualified options for open roles, new graduates are likely to struggle to find roles.^[21]
• Caregivers Due to ongoing school closures, women and single parents are taking on the brunt of caretaking and attempting to balance both work and family responsibilities and may even step out of the workforce as a result. ^[22]
• Workers who contract COVID-19 People who test positive for the virus or emerge from quarantine are stigmatized and often avoided. On the flip side, those who have recovered from COVID-19 and potentially possess immunity might be labeled differently based on this status, contributing to a new divide for the “haves” and “have-nots.”
• Workers with poor mental health The number of people who experience mental health issues is rapidly growing, amplified by the fatigue of long hours, grief related to the loss of close ones or even simply the loss of normalcy, and generalized anxiety.

Individuals who possess the ability, means, and vocation to work remotely are emerging as a greatly privileged population. The digital divide is amplifying pre-existing disparities as the “digitally fluent” can be successful in a remote environment. Meanwhile, small business owners, retail workers, and restaurant workers, who are disproportionately minorities, women, and other diverse groups, are more likely to be impacted by the threat of unemployment. In addition, they often lack access to healthcare and paid sick leave. 

Employers must pay close attention to the emerging signs of division and help employees balance work and life demands within the newly written circumstances of work. The pandemic may provide us with an opportunity to assess implications and minimize impacts for affected populations.

Conclusion

Human Capital teams can use data to analyze employee-related decisions and choices. While organizations that have had strong human capital analytics functions before COVID-19 may be best positioned to compare data before, during, and after the pandemic, every organization should consider using data to make decisions going forward. This information can be particularly valuable in critical conversations today and in making decisions about engagement and productivity, health and well-being, and D&I that will have far-reaching impacts on the future of the organization.