A slow car has never won a Formula One race. The Olympics doesn’t reward slow times in swimming, track or any other clock-timed sport. Likewise, slow data speeds don’t win over customers or colleagues in the real-time business world. Microsoft’s own research once reported that a person visiting a website on a connected device is likely to wait no more than 10 seconds to see it before moving to a competitor’s site.
With COVID-19’s ever-changing conditions – growing infection rates, shifting and new vaccine mandates, variant outbreaks and office closures and re-openings – HR has stepped up and taken on a significant role in helping organizations navigate every employee’s personal and work life needs. COVID-19 accelerated the evolution already underway in HR, with HR growing beyond being a policy and procedure hub into a strategic business partner.