An agile workforce is key to navigating the pandemic

Applications for the UIF/Temporary Employment Services (TES) grant to alleviate employee layoffs has closed. But this was always going to be a temporary measure. The long-term implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on our economy will continue to resonate and be a permanent part of the foreseeable future. This means that business-as-usual has changed, and companies need to adapt to new realities or face some serious challenges.

What do I mean by this? The world is not returning to any former normal state. For example, as a retailer, you can’t rely on massive footfall and lines of customers to help meet your margins. Fewer people will at any given time patronise a business – there is no getting around this. So, any business operation that relies on frequent and high volumes of visiting customers, needs to make adjustments.

But even if you can get the regular customer volumes back, supply chains are affected as well. The drop in demand has a direct impact on manufacturers, suppliers, logistics and every step in-between. Supply and demand have been disrupted in still-unfolding ways. Anyone who crafted a business model that relies on those synergies must change their plans.

### Business survival needs agile workforces

This describes every business on the planet, so changes are inevitable – and much of that change will land on staff. People are one of the most costly assets in a business, so when times get tough, staff numbers get cut. Yet we shouldn’t confuse what is happening now with the tactic’s companies used to lean themselves in hard times. It’s not about cutting staff so that the others have to do more. It’s about cutting staff based on what your production needs are. What companies are going through now isn’t a bad patch, but a change in how everything operates.

Companies can’t simply retrench to save money. Instead, the sudden shocks to supply chains and consumer activities have exposed how poorly balanced many companies are in terms of their workforces. In technical terms, they weren’t ‘right-sized’. Under normal circumstances, a company would absorb such imbalances, and in events of cost-cutting, it would mainly just purge staff based on what it can save.

But the current trend is different. Companies aren’t cutting fat. They are literally reorganising, creating new org charts to reflect the emerging realities of the market. It’s a much more subtle and demanding problem, one where you don’t just cut staff to balance the books. You have to know where to make the cuts, as well as where not to – and what staff to bring on board to realise your new strategies. The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing companies to be a lot more agile with their workforces.

### Strategic flexibility through workforce solutions agencies

Most organisations don’t know how to do this or are too prioritised in other areas to give this enough consideration. This is why they should use the services of a TES provider. The right company does several things. It recruits and maintains skilled and unskilled employees that can fit different roles in a company. It can apply experience from other businesses and sectors to recommend the best placement for staff to align with the business’ new priorities. It can also help companies become flexible around employment while ensuring compliance is met.

A responsible TES provider looks after those employees, with some going as far as providing a funeral fund and access to a provident fund. As jobs are shed in the economy, TES workers can keep the wheels going, keeping track of talent in the hiring pool and aligning those individuals with opportunities among companies.

This is key: there will be opportunities. The pandemic is an event unlike anything else in living memory. Both companies and workers will need to figure out their places in this new era, which means they both need partners that help with that in a flexible and timely way, coupled with informed guidance to make the right choices.

If a business is only out to trim its costs for tough times, it is both very likely to fail anyway and will worsen unemployment. Being at the mercy of the pandemic, companies need to reconfigure. Reconfiguration means access to people – and this is where TES providers come in. They can create the necessary agility and stability so that businesses can change their plans and workers can find a place to ply their skills.