TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV)– In the summer of 2021, Indiana State student Lacey Beauford spent countless hours researching the many ways the COVID-19 pandemic impacted businesses in search of what practices could be beneficial in the years to come.
She said her findings were simple.
“Being willing to change, being open to change, and being flexible,” she said.
Beauford presented her findings to members of the Wabash Valley Human Resources Association on Wednesday as a part of their monthly chapter meeting at the Sycamore Country Club.
Rob Fox is the vice president for the WVHRA, as well as the director of HR at the Vigo County Public Library.
He said he’s seen firsthand how the library has adapted some of it’s practices that started due to the pandemic.
“We had to get real inventive on ways we could serve the public,” he said. “Like we were doing online story times, and we were doing curbside pickup, we were able to serve our customers in new and different ways and we found that some of our customers really enjoy some of those ways still today.”
Fox said the pandemic has also caused changes to how he interacts with employees.
“Employees have had such changes in their lives through the pandemic,” he said. “It goes back to being able to accommodate people, being flexible with scheduling, and knowing that people have lives and they may need a mental health day.”
Beauford said there are countless examples of how businesses have changed from the pandemic through things like the rise of video-conferencing technology and remote work.
“It wasn’t really seen as a positive at the time but, companies, businesses, organizations were forced to kind of just grow and be willing to be open to changes,” she said.
Fox said being adaptable is a crucial component in developing a workplace culture.
“It all goes back to the workplace culture. I can’t say that enough. Because if employees feel cared about, and it’s not just the day to day interactions but it happens over time, employees have to know they can have someone to count on,” he said.
