During the pandemic, two overlapping groups of employees have been facing great pressure on the job and at home: women and deskless workers. Women, as well as people of color, are over-proportionately represented among the essential workers pressed to keep working during the pandemic. And these employees are often caregivers, as well.
Deskless workers are employees who “typically don’t sit behind a desk to perform their jobs,” as defined by Mike Morini, CEO of WorkForce Software. Tied to a physical workplace, they constitute 80 percent of workers across the globe and nearly 100 percent of shift workers in a wide range of industries, including health care, retail, manufacturing, and transportation.
Because of concerns about health, safety, stability, and security at the workplace and at home, many employees in these two groups are less engaged at the workplace. To boost engagement with their demanding work, HR can apply modern workforce management principles to give these workers a sense of purpose, inclusion, and security.
“In the past, entrepreneurs in technology primarily focused on building tools for desked workers. Almost 60% of companies have little to no flexible technology solutions in place for their deskless workers,” Morini says.
However, modern workforce management technology is beneficial – and sometimes even a requirement – for these deskless workers, too.
Morini adds, “Not providing these workers with proper tools and technologies has put a burden on them during the pandemic — especially when coupled with greater exposure to other workers and the public, their lack of flexible work schedules, childcare challenges, and adequate time off to mitigate burnout.”
Ensuring organizations have a unified team purpose is also key. HR policies for the recognition of diverse employees’ contributions to the team purpose, empathetic one-on-one talks, and team agreements to support work/life balance give all employees the sense of being valued.