Building on a brutal 2020: tips for tackling 3 big HR goals

The year 2020 was an exhausting one for HR professionals, who were faced with constant workplace challenges ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to social movements to the presidential election. Now that it’s (thankfully) in our past, we can use the obstacles we faced to frame a better, brighter 2021. Here are some HR goals to help us do so.

Review your employee handbook, policies

Once a year, you should review your employee handbook and policies to make sure they’re up-to-date with any legal changes that have occurred, as well as accurate based on how your business actually operates. The review may be more important than ever in light of how much workplaces changed during the pandemic, which may have a lasting effect even after it ends.

For instance, at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, many of you had to develop or enhance your remote work policies and procedures to adapt to government shutdown orders. With many of the orders being lifted and life beginning to return to normal, are the policies still applicable? In addition, has the pandemic opened the potential for you to be more flexible with employees and allow the same remote work policy to continue? Other new policies you’ve enacted may need similar scrutiny.