New Research Report from the Josh Bersin Academy Identifies Ten Pandemic-Related Responses with Highest Business Impact

OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Josh Bersin Academy, the world's only global development academy for HR professionals, today announced the release of its newest research-based report, Business Resilience: The Global COVID-19 Pandemic Response Study. The 38-page complimentary report is based on a survey conducted in August 2020 of 1,349 HR leaders and professionals across the globe and all industry segments. 

The survey was designed to analyze 53 practices encompassing areas such as leadership, culture and communication, learning and talent strategies, pay and benefits plans, remote work, workplace configurations, and HR skills and capabilities. Ten practices were found to have highest business impact in areas such as financial performance, customer satisfaction, workforce engagement and retention, and societal impact. They include the rapid adoption of technology, the effective use of contingent workforces, simplifying performance management, helping employees deal with ambiguity, and listening to employees while developing return-to-the-workplace strategies. 

"Our research clearly shows that regardless of industry, geography, or company size, business resilience has three major aspects:  employee health and wellbeing, business agility, and job and workforce transformation," said Josh Bersin, global industry and dean of the Josh Bersin Academy. "The ten practices identified in this study drive results above all others. Our goal in publishing this report is to provide actionable information that HR leaders can use to achieve greatest impact in continued uncertainty."

With the support of Perceptyx, Bersin and his team found four stages of response, ranging from the implementation of purely tactical responses to those that lay the groundwork for business transformation. The stages break out as follows:

• Stage 1, Hope for the Best: 18% of responses fell into this category, which is focused on financial survival, maintaining day-to-day operations, and actions related to employee furloughs or layoffs.
• Stage 2, Care for the People: The largest percentage of responses (46%) were here, where organizations are focusing on keeping employees, customer, and suppliers safe from infection.
• Stage 3, Drive Agility and Culture: 15% of responses are at this stage, where emphasis is on educating and supporting employees to move fast, develop cross-functional solutions, and stay resilient and productive.
• Stage 4, Transform and Reinvent: 21% of companies fell into the highest stage, which focuses on the reinvention of hiring, job design, and pay to transform into new business and operating models.

The report includes detailed recommendations for companies to advance to higher response stages – helpful for those looking to benchmark their own practices and prioritize plans for coming months. The report also features case studies highlighting actions taken by Deutsche Telekom, Southwest Airlines, Norton Healthcare, and Reliance Industries to address pandemic-related challenges.

Perceptyx, a provider of employee surveys and people analytics, supplied the technology platform and data analysis for this research effort.  "When the pandemic hit, there was no playbook on how to address the myriad of issues companies faced," said Dr. Brett Wells, director of people analytics at Perceptyx. "We jumped at the opportunity to partner with Josh and his team to survey how companies approached the abrupt disruption in the workplace, and most importantly distill best practices to help leaders make smarter decisions. One of the key takeaways learned is that the most successful companies continue to survey employees and take action based on employee feedback. The insights provided in this report will no doubt help companies see the way forward."

Business Resilience: The Global COVID-19 Pandemic Response Study, is available for download here.

About the Josh Bersin Academy

The Josh Bersin Academy is the world's first global development academy for HR and talent professionals and a transformation agent for HR organizations. The Academy, which has thousands of members, offers content-rich online programs, a carefully curated library of tools and resources, learning journeys, and a global community that helps HR and talent professionals stay current on the trends and practices needed to drive organizational success in the modern world of work.

The Academy currently offers ten programs: People as a Competitive Advantage; Performance Management Reimagined; The Agile Learning Organization; The HR Technology Workshop; Wellbeing at Work; People Analytics; Voices, Values and HR; The Remote Work Bootcamp, and Resilient HR.  The Academy's newest program, Coaching at Scale, will be live on October 22.  Memberships are available to individuals, HR teams, and entire HR organizations.

The Academy is created in partnership with Nomadic Learning, a company specializing in integrated digital learning solutions to help individuals adopt new ways of working and transform functions, organizations and businesses. For details and to join, visit www.bersinacademy.com.

SOURCE Josh Bersin Academy

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