“Working from home” or WFH (ACAS Home Working Policy) has become a vital part of employee and company performance since Covid forced companies that had held remote working at arm’s length to embrace it and remote working and flexible hours became necessary to involve surviving. By doing this the balance between employer and employee began to tilt in favour of the employee. Companies are now facing their workforce’s potential return to office. Working in the recruitment industry we have found that many candidates are of the opinion that remote work is here to stay with a positive outlook to WFH in the chemical industry.
Chemical Industry - WFH, Hybrid, Onsite
Chemical companies rose to their challenges during the pandemic by enabling the remote execution of critical research, development, safety, and regulatory functions. Flexible hours saw research teams working unusual work patterns to allow social distancing in the laboratories. Transitioning to the next work model whilst adhering to all regulatory compliance and compromising employee experience is a significant challenge. As we move past Covid-19 many companies are now facing a growing desire from their employees to work remotely or work with a hybrid system. This involves HR/Senior Management gauging how much remote working can continue in the future.
Advice & Support
Some of the challenges facing the Chemical industry with WFH is that product development, production and operations roles are not viable for remote working. There is also an impact on personal development missing out on things like on-the-job-training and personal interactions between colleagues. Deloitte’s recent report "The future of work in Chemicals, Redefining the work, workforce, and workplace of tomorrow"makes for interesting reading for moving from concept to action. The CIPD’s view on Assessing roles for hybrid working provides helpful guidelines for employers.
Increasing the candidate pool
As a specialist recruitment company, we have had the advantage of an expanded pool of candidates due to the WFH option now available on many roles. Candidates cited WFH benefits giving them the freedom to live where they choose, saving on the commute in cost and time, all being less stressful. Contact our Consultants to discuss your recruitment requirements.
What should I do?
Whilst we are still seeing the problems created by the pandemic, we encourage our unemployed candidates to improve their skills and participate in networking opportunities. It’s important to stay focused and do the groundwork now so that when things have improved you will have developed some new skills that will make you more attractive to employers.
Flexible Working
Where the balance between employer and employee ultimately remains to be seen. What is certain is that we have greatly changed how we see work. We all have experienced a shared need to be more flexible and think how to do things differently.
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