This period has forever impacted how we work and how we see work fitting into the rest of our

lives. For the foreseeable future, organizations will be searching for their footing and establishing

new ways of working, new norms to shape their collective cultures. Along the way, there will be a

great number of challenges for to cope with. Here are six we think are going to play a key role in

determining the functions of HR and the way work gets done in a variety of organizations and

industries.

$1.$ Not Falling Back into Old Ways.$-$As people come back into the workplace, it may be

tempting to try and put the events of the last year behind you and try to rekindle the culture

and atmosphere our offices enjoyed pre$-$pandemic. But the fact is that in the course of a year,

people change. From their perceptions to their wants, needs and expectations, people now

see the workplace and their work lives in a different way. There simply is no putting this genie

back in the bottle. Trying to return to the days of old will have serious consequences for

organizations as a large percentage of employees have indicated they will look for new work

should employers try to make them spend $40$ hours per week in the office again.

$2.$ Staying Flexible$-$Companies will have to remain flexible and be willing to engage employees

around issues of workplace policies and culture to ensure they remain

appealing. Flexibility is no longer some fancy soft benefit employers can use to lure

millennial workers under the guise of work$-$life balance, it$$s a need and an expectation for

workers of all ages and backgrounds. For working parents, flexibility is fast becoming a key

component in how they make their work fit into their lives and support from the organizations

they work for is going to be highly valuable to those people.

$3.$ The Evolution of Skills.$-$The pandemic has shifted the way many companies business and

at the same time put a lot of people out of work. Many of those folks do not wish to go back

and many of the aforementioned businesses require people with different skills than they did

just a few years ago. This evolution of desired skills means companies now have to support

the development of the workforce both internally and externally. Internally, their L&D

programs will have to drive development of new skills and identify people for emerging roles

and leadership opportunities.

$4.$ Re$-$imagining Recruitment Processes$-$Whether it is the unbinding of work to geographic

location or changing the way we interview, vet and screen people, companies are having to

rethink the recruitment process for a couple of reasons.

$$ First is the adaptation to the era of remote work, allowing candidates to interview virtually in a

process that is smooth and transparent as a signal of company culture and values.

$1$

$$ Second is a greater push for diversity. Reliance on traditional methods of recruiting,

screening and vetting tools such as the resume are going to have to change if companies are

going to create a workforce that reflects that our society more accurately.

$5.$ Remaining Focused on Wellness$-$Wellness, and in particular mental health, has become a

key priority for employers in the last year. As we slowly shift into a post$-$pandemic world, it will

be important to keep a close on wellness as employees deal with yet another change. There

continues to be a great deal of uncertainty for many employees when it comes to the health

of loved ones, their job security for the future and high levels of general anxiety surrounding

world events.

$6.$ Getting Real on DEI$-$There are few issues that companies can ill afford to get wrong more

than diversity, equity and inclusion. We have reached a time where people expect results,

particularly younger generations. There is a feeling that the time has come to address

systemic issues that perpetuate cycles of discrimination and inequity and for HR

professionals, one of the biggest challenges of this year and the years to come will be

ensuring that their organization$$s practices put them on the right side of history this time.

QUESTION ONE $[30]$

$1\mathrm{.}1.$ Define Human Resources Planning and discuss the key aspects of HR Planning, with

reference to the extract above. $(15)$

$1\mathrm{.}2.$ Identify some of the problems associated with HR Planning, and how this could impact

issues from the extract. $(15$