Inequality between jobs — beyond the virus

The current situation in which a 3rd of the world population in confinement has lead to a forced increase in home office. A lot has been said about its countless advantages for both the individual (no commute, higher concentration, more private time) and the society as a whole (less transport, lower pollution), but also its clear challenges such as the need for better internet infrastructure and the necessary hardware and software investments for organisations, especially in the current crisis.

Making it possible for white-collar workers seems quite obvious. But it highlights the fact that when we talk about technology and its application in HR, it often plays in favour of office workers at the detriment of blue collars.

This isn’t new: often the talks in HR related conferences and events are about how technology can support employee development, performance management, learning in the flow of work, but often the examples and use cases are related to office employees of all kind: developers, sales and service people, and any type of job where you spend time at a desk and with a computer.

What Coronavirus illustrates is that anyone with geographical constraint is at risk of being left aside with technology. If you’re a factory or logistics worker, or cashier in a supermarket or any local store, you obviously can’t do your job remotely as all those talks about home office confinement to avoid being sick simply don’t apply to you: either you may be currently losing your job or be in partial unemployment because of the crisis (such as in automotive), or your activity is essential to the economy to avoid shortage (as in retail).

This means that organisations need to pay special attention to this category of employees. Obviously during an extraordinary situation such as the one we’re facing with the coronavirus, it starts with all the necessary measures to protect their health, and we can see it’s unfortunately easier said than done. But what will happen beyond this very special, and hopefully unique, case? How will technology support employees wherever they work, and whatever tasks they perform in the future?

The objective is the same as with white collars: technology aims at supporting employees working better, whether in an office or in the field. Therefore, organisations will have to invest in all their staff and help them improve their skills and acquire new competencies, notably to open new career opportunities in the longer term, whether the employees are in an office, a factory, a shop or a warehouse. But the fact that those employees aren’t in an office will definitely impact the way they are taken into account.

Clearly it’s an area where the investment will have to be mobile first. This isn’t as complex as it used to: the penetration rate of mobile devices is now above 50% everywhere in the European Union, so a Bring Your Own Device strategy is possible. In addition, android-based smartphones or tablets are now affordable. Cloud-based applications are using individual logins so tablets can be shared in a breakout room. Obviously, the factory, shop or warehouse has to have wifi. But most importantly, the organisation will need to take this development time into account: it is part of the job (and working hours) as it enables better performance and competency improvement.

The important point to make here is that this investment to develop all categories of workers is worth it. Blue collars represent a huge talent pool that is often not enough used, as they consist of people that already know the organisation, and can be in direct contact either with the products (in factories for example) or with the clients or the consumers (such as in stores). In giving them access to development tools and opportunities, organisations should also give them the opportunity to share their own skills and improve the overall knowledge across the company.

When the current crisis is over, investing in them will also be a great way to show gratitude to those who continued to work despite the risks, and to show support to those who couldn’t work during that time.